Youkai no Bikou
by lemony.club
Summary: Wanting to gain more power to show them all, it accepted Sage of the Six Paths' offer. Centuries later, fulfilling its end, it finally returned home. However, the life it'd left behind was no longer part of its own as it'd no recollection of that. Another incarnation of itself would have to take the lead while it stayed back and watched how the story unfold. NarutoxYasaka (main)!
1. Prologue

**Youkai no Bikou (Naruto x DXD)**

**Disclaimer: **This story is fiction. All the characters, names and places belong to their respective owners.

**Background:** Yasaka is a nine-tailed fox and the mother of Kunou. She is an extremely powerful Youkai, who is on par with an Ultimate-Class Devil. She also is the leader of the Youkai in Kyoto. Yasaka has both a human form and a fox form. In her human form, she appears as a young woman with a voluptuous figure and golden blond hair with matching eyes while dressed in shrine maiden attire. In her real form, she has the appearance of a giant nine-tailed fox with golden fur. Yasaka is shown to be very humble and polite as well as a loving mother and a dedicated leader… on the surface.

* * *

**=[Prologue]=**

"You coward! Get back here!" roared fox with nine-tails. It was chasing another of its kind – with eight tails – throughout the palace halls.

The eight-tails dashed and weaved through the corridor in haste with a dreadful expression. It was running for its life. Even though it was a coward of sort, none could argue that it was very agile on its feet. No one within the palace could match its speed, including its wife.

The creature did a zigzag, avoiding several other youkais that were trying to stop it on her orders. The fox then jumped on top of their heads after gracefully navigating through the space between their extended limbs. It used their heads as a stepping stone before going over the high wall.

The second fox landed on top of the wall a minute later and scanned the area beyond the palace, realizing her husband was long gone.

"Only good at running away," she murmured and sighed before returning back to the central palace again. Her husband would return eventually as he always did. There was nowhere else he could go, and she had a more important matter she must attend like preventing herself from throwing up due to morning sickness.

The escapee kept on running, passing through several the empty streets of Kyoto before finally starting to drop its speed. It felt that it had gotten far enough, thus began the transformation into its human form. While examining the surrounding, he revealed himself to have golden blond hair with matching set of eyes. Three whisker marks adorning both side of his cheek as he puffed up and exhaled.

He leaned forward against the railing that was erected to prevent people from falling into the lake. He watched the undisturbed water silently in the secluded park. It was completely dark out and only the moonlight reflected off the lake's surface.

"Fucking bitch!" He cursed at his own reflection while rubbing the bruises that covered his body. "Just because she has more tails than me, she thinks she owned me. No one tells me what to do. I will show her who the boss is!"

He had a total of eight tails and was still waiting to acquire the last one. His mate's power had exceeded his own, and he didn't like that one bit. As a creature of pride and as well as being male, he wanted to be on top and acquire more mates. A harem of sort, but unfortunately, he could not go against her as she pummeled him around the room for even hinting something like that. Under that humble and polite personality of her, which she displayed for the public, existed a demon. He felt just like a prisoner where she was the warden.

"Then why don't you?" A voice asked from the side.

Startled, his slit eyes snapped towards it. The demonic fox was sure he was completely alone seconds ago. The person he saw was a tall and pale-skinned man with deep wrinkles to show his age.

The elderly man had spiky, shoulder-length, pale-red hair, with a chin-length braid hanging in front of his left ear as well as sporting a goatee which tapered down to his waist. Horn-like protrusions on his forehead with ringed patterns for eyes. He wore a white, full-length kimono with a pattern of six black magatama around a high collar along with a necklace which was also made up of six black magatama. A strange black staff was secured to his back, and he was sitting on a bench with two hands pressed against his knee as if they were to hold his weary body up. He looked very tired. Something appeared to be off about him, giving the youkai pause.

"Who are you?" The fox asked after immediately placing the elderly man as an abnormal being from the appearance alone. He'd never seen such being before, but there was a first time for everything. Could it be a devil as they tend to have numerous abilities and appearances? The fox had no answer to that.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking another person's name?" The elderly man replied.

"I am Kurama, the great Kyuubi, so tell me who you are!" Kurama demanded.

"Kyuubi? Ah yes… but you're still missing one more to make it nine," the man said as he analyzed the creature before nodding approvingly. It was as if he had found what he was seeking for. "Hagoromo Otsutsuki, Sage of Six Paths."

"I will get my ninth tail! It's only a matter of time! In a few hundred years, nobody would challenge my powers, ahahahaha," Kurama retorted before laughing hysterically, imaging the destruction he would wreck upon those that challenged him. Hagoromo stroke his beard a little with a free hand. He was in thought, allowing the young man to continue in his delusional fantasy.

After Kurama stopped being an idiot, Hagoromo finally spoke up.

"I am looking for a vessel. If you could help me in that regard, I'm sure I can shorten the time you needed to get your final tail. I will also give you something more as a bonus, Kurama," Hagoromo offered as the said person narrowed his menacing eyes at the man.

Kurama was suspicious, but his desire for power overwhelmed his own vigilance.

"You can? Show me!" Kurama demanded.

Hagoromo nodded. He took the strange staff from his back and tapped the air space to his side. The air distorted around the impact point, and black lines appeared before spiraling like a whirlpool into some kind of dark portal.

Kurama stepped back a little after sensing the rift in space. He had seen many strange things in his life, but never something like this. The portal pulsed with strange and unknown energy that seemed to fill the air with malicious intentions.

"If you accept then follow me as you will be the last of the nine. I can say that you will be the strongest and greatest of them. However, you will disappear from here for a little while, and one day you will met a child of prophecy. You will help him accomplish his goal and you will be given a chance to return here again," Hagoromo hinted as Kurama's eyes narrowed more.

It was really like selling your soul for power kind of deal, but Kurama wanted to powers above all else so…

"What are the Nine?"

"The Nine will be known as Bijuu, each have the ability to remodel a country and landscape with just a flick of their tail. I needed them to contain a certain being's energy. They are: **_Shukaku_** the Ichibi, **_Matatabi_** the Nibi, **_Isobu_** the Sanbi, **_Son Goku_** the Yonbi, **_Kokuo _**the Gobi, **_Saiken_** the Rokubi, **_Chomei_** the Nanabi, **_Gyuuki _**the Hachibi, and finally you, if you choose to accept, will be **_Kurama _**the Kyuubi," Hagoromo answered truthfully.

"I will have nine tails? The strongest?" Kurama asked.

Hagoromo nodded to confirm. "However, I will need to seal your memory of this place along with your body until such time an event will come to pass," he added with some thoughts, seeing how Kurama was quite arrogance, and that might be a bad thing if he allowed it to roam freely with that kind of behavior.

"Let's do it then!" Kurama howled decidedly.

The sage stroked his beard and entered the portal first to show that it was safe. It was soon followed by a demon fox without any hesitation.

As the Sage had promised, all nine creatures he collected from different worlds were given a piece of Juubi's, the ten-tails', powers. Their memories were sealed along with their body, and they were giving a new immature one, completely made purely of Chakra. All of the Bijuu would need to grow into it, and after the task was done, Hagoromo's body failed him and he passed away. It was not before he told his creations that they would all be together again even if they went their separate ways. It was as if he knew what was to come far into the future.

The Nine showed themselves from time to time, allowing the humans of the world to witness their might and powers. At first, they were together, having a close relationship with one another, but fragmented pieces of their former personality resurfaced, and they slowly drifted apart from a heated philosophical disagreement.

Eventually, they parted way just like their creator hinted long ago. Kurama, for his own reason, believed that their strength lies in the number of tails they held. He had nine so he was the strongest. Pride and hubris soon followed.

Over the centuries, countless inhabitants of the Elemental Nations failed to regard the tailed beasts as sapient individuals, treating them with great disdain and fear. Because of the immense power each of creatures wielded, the Shinobi sought out the tailed beasts as tools and weapons to be controlled. It was a sentiment they as a whole detested, but knew that it was necessary.

Kurama was the last to be sealed away inside a human sacrifice known as the Jinchuuriki. It was angry, filled with malice, of being imprisoned like some sort of prize.

Mito Uzumaki was the first of its jailer then Kushina Uzumaki after the first reached her end. Its third jailer was one called Naruto Uzumaki. Kurama wondered why the blond boy looked familiar with his bright blond hair and three whisker marks. However, the pair of blue eyes was wrong in its opinion, but it didn't know exactly why. No one truly knew, not even the great Sage, that a Jinchuuriki, who was giving birth, would give her child some of the Bijuu's original traits.

Thus, Naruto was like an incarnation of Kurama's original form. Was that a coincidence?

Watching the orphaned boy being shunned by all in the village of his birth, Kurama decided to use Naruto's dependence on its power to gain control over him and break free from its cage. However, through the seemingly endless struggle, Kurama's attitude toward the blond soon began to change prior to the Fourth Shinobi World War. It was then the fox showed respect to the blond as if it was showing it to itself.

Just like Hagoromo had stated those centuries before, the Nine were united once more in a single body to defeat powerful enemies that sought to erase everyone from existence, and they finally brought forth the much desired peace.

After a great and costly battle, Naruto Uzumaki emerged victorious. It was against all odd, but with the help of the Nine, he did the impossible, and Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki appeared before them once more.

"Thank you… this is how it should be. I'm glad you all have completed the task I foresaw those centuries ago. I saw the end if you were not here to prevent it. As such, you have my deepest gratitude. I will return you back to your home, the place where you belonged originally, like I've promised all those years ago," Hagoromo said and explained that he took them from their home even though they did not remember. He was desperately searching for a way to change the dark future in his vision.

"**But isn't thousands of years had already passed?**"

"Time is relative and flows differently, Shusaku. You might have experienced thousands years here, but I will sent you back to the same time you left, maybe a year or two later. You will regain your original form along with newfound ability as promise. I can also erase your memory of the Elemental Nations if you desire," Hagoromo offered.

The first eight beasts accepted and wanted to return to the life they would know again. Some of them choose to remove the memory of the Elemental Nations along with all the pain they suffered during their unjust imprisonment.

Kurama was hesitant to leave the blond as if he was now part of his life, however.

"Hey Kurama, we make a great team didn't we?" Naruto asked.

Kurama nodded in agreement. It felt that true powers came from the strength of characters and the will to make the impossible possible. Throughout their struggles, it had its moment of doubt, but Naruto had showed none of that. The boy, who was shunned most of his life, would climb over all the challenges and proved to those that did not believed that he would not back down from his belief.

The Juubi was powerful, exceeding its own power, but still lost to their teamwork in the end. Madara and Kaguya, a God and Goddess possibly, were no different. They were all defeated, one after another, as Hagoromo had foreseen in another possible and grimmer timeline.

"**Child of prophecy**," Kurama muttered as Naruto grinned proudly.

_Ah, so that's how it is,_ Hagoromo thought, looking at Naruto. The boy's appearance was like the humanoid Kurama, and he knew then that the Kyuubi would have a hand in bringing forth the boy's existence and thus saving the future. Hagoromo simply smiled and returned the rest of the eight beasts back to their own world, allowing Naruto and Kurama some time to discuss where they would go from here onward. The Sage felt completely drained afterwards, but kept his composure. He wasn't sure if there was enough powers in him to send the last one back.

"**I think I will stay here for a while,**" Kurama finally requested.

The Sage nodded, understanding the Kyuubi's reason. Naruto couldn't be happier that it chose to stay behind with him. Kurama was then resealed back into Naruto as it felt much more comfortable in there. Furthermore, as the Sage had also hinted, Kurama still needed to help the blond with the corruptive nature of all the tail-beasts' chakra that were now coursing through his inner pathways. This time, however, Kurama wasn't being tied down or locked in a cage.

"Very well, come back here when you are ready to return," Hagoromo said. He drew up the seal before continuing to speak. "This seal will activate upon your blood, Naruto. It will open a portal, but only one time. You or your children will be the one to send Kurama back to his home one day. It will also return your original memory and body as well, Kurama."

"Is that another thing you saw?" Naruto asked curiously, but Hagoromo shook his head. He felt that he was fading away as he channeled the last of his energy into the time-space seal. It should be good for one being to pass through, and hopefully that was enough.

"I can see nothing now, so I cannot say what is to come, but make it a good one, Naruto and Kurama," Hagoromo said with a wide smile before fading away right before the two.

"Are you crying?" Naruto asked, hearing the whimpering noise in his mindscape.

"**SHUT UP, BRAT! I'M NOT CRYING! Just something in my eyes, damn dusts,**" Kurama growled in denial as Naruto rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"Right, let's return home and start rebuilding!" Naruto roared, jogging back to the devastated hidden village of leafs and meeting up with the rest of the allies' forces along the way. The costly war was over and the future would be something they would make for themselves.

**_An undisclosed amount of time later…_**

"Stop breaking things! If you want to help, stay put and don't touch anything!" One of the workers scolded the blond angrily.

Naruto frowned as he sat back down on the wooden bench, watching the busy bodies crowding the street again. They were rebuilding hidden village of the leaf again after all the crap they had to go through. A couple of year had passed since the last battle, and each village started to fight with words rather than swords and jutsus. Diplomacy was the new path, but even so, each Kage still kept their armed forces for the safety of their home. Fortunately, after seeing the devastation the last war had wrecked, they were more incline to sit down and cooperate towards a beneficial and mutual goal.

"I'm so darn useless now!" Naruto shouted in anger as he leaned against the tree further away from town. A few trees around was tore apart in his frustration. Peace… was incredibly boring to him. The blond was only good for one thing, and he could only show it in battle. Now that there were no conflicts going on, he was out of a job and would be for a long time with the ways thing were heading. It wasn't a bad thing, but it was bad for most of the shinobi, who only knew how to kill.

In addition, by absorbing part of each tail-beast into himself had made his own natural physical prowess went beyond normal, demonstrated by shattered ground and boulders around him. He didn't use any chakra in those strikes, but they were incredibly devastating nonetheless. Because of that, whenever he tried to help out in town, it usually ended badly and he had to pay for compensation.

_"GET OUT OF HERE! STOP MAKING A MESS!" Tsunade shouted at him for breaking more things on accidents._

Naruto didn't know what to do now. He was kind of lost, not knowing where to go with his life.

"**You should settle down and have some kits?**" Kurama suggested. The blond rolled his blue eyes at the suggestion. He exhaled afterward with some lamentations. Everyone he knew had moved on, but he remained the same goofy idiot. Of the three young heroes from the last war, Sasuke ran off somewhere as he didn't way to stay in the village that brought him so much pain and suffering. Sakura ran off after the raven-haired boy. Where the duo went, Naruto didn't know, but he hoped they were happier than him.

"Maybe you're right. Peace's kind of suck. Nothing good happening right now, I want to fight again in awesome battle!" Naruto shouted loudly, but no one was around to hear it. Although everyone wanted it after all the struggle, Naruto was born and lived in a rather turbulent time and he felt a bit unneeded now. Acknowledgement he finally got, but it felt hollowed.

"**Want me to go out and start destroying the villages so they could ask you for help?**" Kurama asked dryly.

"Really? Can you do that?"

"**I was joking, baka!**"

"Tsk… me too," Naruto said the last part very softly.

"Maybe I should go on a self-searching journey like the teme, but where to?" Naruto asked before remembering something about a promise from a few years back by a certain Sage.

"Oh, I know." Naruto snapped his finger. "Let's go to your home and see what it is like. Maybe they need our help?"

Kurama blinked as it had no memories of that place, and currently had no desire of return. It was totally contended with its lifestyle, sleeping days in and out without a single care in the world while everyone still feared it. It was the only Bijuu left in the whole Elemental Nations, and it liked to stay that way.

"**No thanks,**" Kurama refused flatly.

"Common, furball! Stop being lazy and let's go!" Naruto insisted and disappeared in an orange flash before Kurama could reply. He re-emerged back to the spot where Hagoromo last stood. The seal was still there as Naruto examined over it to make sure. He was getting very good at Fuuinjutsu, the sealing arts, but this was another level all together. He would not be able to reproduce it without some more extensive training, but he believed he could do it eventually.

"**I'm not going! Leave me alone!**" Kurama growled angrily. It didn't care what it was before and had no allusion of returning to that.

Naruto ignored Kurama and slashed one of his fingers before rubbing the lifeblood onto the seal. The black marking glowed and twirled on the surface of the rock, forming a spiraling portal.

"**AH! YOU IDIOT! HE SAID IT WILL ONLY OPEN ONE TIME ONLY!**" The fox roared furiously, seeing how its only way home was used up by the idiot. True, it didn't want to return home right now, but this was the only chance and it never knows when it would change its mind.

"Oh…" Naruto mumbled apologetically. He'd forgotten about that part.

"**Damn it, we have no choice now! Nice one, Baka! Baka!...**"

"Alright, calm down. I'm sorry, so stop insulting me," Naruto said, feeling like there was nothing here for him to do. He would return one day again once he figured out how the seal work to replicate it. Without any further thoughts, Naruto walked into the portal with Kurama still was within him.

Naruto had made another assumption that the seal could differentiate between the two entities. It did not as Hagoromo never thought that Naruto would enter it along with Kurama. The Youkai's original memory as added to the blond's instead. He held his head in pain as he continued to drift along the spiraling path of the portal. Visions and flashes were not his own invaded his mind before he emerged out from the other side. He thrashed around the ground, trying to get rid of the painful headache in whatever way he could.

"Ahhh, shit! My head! It hurts! FUCK!" Naruto shouted/cursed, rolling around on the pavement. After more thrashings about, he stood up and leaned over the nearby railing, coughing and huffing heavily. He noticed one of his blue eyes was golden from the water surface. Heterochromia. His right eye was golden in color while the left was bluish, but other than that, everything seemed normal.

Kurama's original form and his own had merged during the transition.

"**Hey, brat, how are you feeling? Didn't know it hurts that much. I'm glad it wasn't me,**" Kurama called out from the mindscape. Kurama felt exactly the same as before with no extra memory or limbs so he assumed they went to Naruto instead. The theory was solidified as he saw the blond's eyes in the reflection.

"Who are you calling a brat? I'm the great Kyuubi… oh wait…" Naruto said, but stopped abruptly. He face-palmed and tried to clear his mind from the conflicting set of memories. He remembered everything up the point he accepted Hagoromo's offer. Was that him? He assumed so, but he still distinctively remembered himself as Naruto as that particular set of memory was newer.

"Who am I?" He mumbled a little before nodding, clearing his mind from all doubts. His blue and golden eyes blinked. "I am Naruto. Now, where's that fucking bitch. I'm going to smack her around to show which one of us is stronger, mwhahahahah," he called out and ran back home while laughing hysterically as if it was the most normal thing to do.

The ground cracked on each of his step as he was far stronger than he ever was.

**_Where are we? What is this place?_** Kurama thought, seeing through Naruto's eyes. He also noticed the blond was swearing a lot as well. He simply shrugged and started dozing off. He didn't seem to care one way or another.

* * *

**Author Note:**

Youkai no Bikou meant Shadow of a Youkai (Youkai's Shadow), or Youkai's Tail. I prefer the first one, but the second one made sense as well. The timeline currently set in when Issei and gang were at Kyoto, so volume 9? Kunou currently in charge as her mother was kidnapped. The pairing is NarutoxYasaka. It's a bit complicated than that as Kurama has no clue what's going on.

Naruto's own personality shifted a little after the merger. He's a hell lots ruder, prideful, arrogance right now. He just a reincarnation due to being born from Jinchuuriki holding Kyuubi so it will be fine. This is post-shinobi war Naruto… so you can expect him to slap most people around. How long the story goes on for depending on interests I guess. Atraxia Dragon gave me the spark of inspiration for this, and was originally a one-shot, but I expanded it a little. Let's see how we go.


	2. Self Reflection (1)

**Youkai no Bikou (Naruto x DXD)**

**Disclaimer: **This story is fiction. All the characters, names and places belong to their respective owners.

**Information: **Kyuubi (Nine-tails) race is modified a bit in this story for it to be more logical. They have three forms. Human form, which is just human to interact with the human world (all youkai have it because Koneko Toujou looked completely human before she shows her tails and ears), sealed form, which is fox-hybrids with corresponding numbers of tails depending on their powers, and released form, which is full nine-tails. The released state is for combat since they took on titanic size. Most Youkai just usually stay in sealed form in their capital to show their ancestry.

* * *

**=[Self Reflection]=  
1**

"Found you!" A child-fox called out. He appeared to be twelve years of age. Looks can be deceiving with their race as they matured at different rate, however.

He pulled away the foliage cover to reveal another of his kind. It was a female with three golden tails wrapped around her lower body like a belt. She also appeared to be around his age. They were playing hide and seek, and he was it. A bright smile crept across his face as his golden irises focused upon the girl. He swished his four tails back and forth behind him proudly. Even though their kinds can transform into a true Kyuubi in their full released state with complete set of nine-tails, the number they had in their sealed state determined how powerful they were.

"Am I first?" She asked cutely.

He nodded with a smile.

"Why do you always find me first?" The girl asked with a pout. She was sure that she was well hidden during all the participated games, but she was always the first to be found whenever he was it. It had happened way too often to be a mere coincidence.

The boy simply grinned at her question, turning around with his arms wrapped around the back of his head and playfully kicking some dirt in front.

"Yasaka-chan, I will always find you wherever you are. It's a promise," he announced without facing her and ran off to find the rest. A red tint covered both of her cheeks, but they were missed entirely by the boy. Maybe he was blushing as well and couldn't gather enough courage to face her when announcing that.

She watched his back for a fraction of a second before running after him. Why did he promise that? The first time he found her was a complete on accident. That was a year ago when she got lost and hurt herself during one of her personal explorations. Being part of nobility, it became a commotion when she turned up missing. Afraid and alone in the woods, she could not move from her injury. She was frightened, but luckily, a blond-haired boy found her and carried her home. Her parents were less welcoming to him due to his low-birth and mixed blood. But regardless, the two children promised they would be friends, and if she were ever lost again, he would definitely find her again.

He was her first friend, and as such, she sneaked out of the palace to play with him whenever there was an opportunity. It was the start of a beautiful relationship, and perhaps, it would last a life time. At least she'd hoped so.

"Dad! What'd happened!?" The boy called out in panicked, seeing the wounded form of his father the moment he opened the ransacked door to his home.

The man smiled at the child and tried to sit upright, but failed miserably. He was too injured, and every little movement caused his body to ripple in pain. Most of his attire was dyed in deep shade of red.

Blood. It was his.

"I lost and was punished for it," he answered his son. He was expelled from his peerage by his master for being weaker than the rest. He was the first one to lose in the game. He tried his best, but that simply wasn't enough. Even with the devils, social standing meant everything, and the rating game feed their needs. They didn't bother to heal his injuries and he had to crawl back home in disgrace.

Tears filled the boy's eyes, pulling on his clothing as he coughed raggedly. Blood streamed down the corner of his mouth. There were a lot of regrettable things in his life, he admitted. He didn't return back in time to comfort his wife's in her last moment. She died in childbirth sorrowfully, and now at the end of his life, he only wanted to see her again. Still, all he ever did was to create a better future for her and his son. Sadly, power was everything in his world, and he simply lacked it.

"No, you're strong, dad! You are! You're the strongest! No one is stronger than you!"

"Kurama. I know my own strength… my own limit," he struggled to say. He swallowed the crimson liquids, mustering his remaining strength and continued. "This is a world where powers equate to prestige and recognitions. I couldn't gain it no matter how hard I tried. I have passed my prime. My ability won't advance more than they are now. But you are different. You're still young and you've show them that you even you were not of pure blood, you can surpassed them!" He announced loudly before falling back to a weak voice. "I am so proud of you… be strong… strongest… always…"

It was the last encouragement he could give. The man voice ragged at the end as his strength finally left him. He was contended of seeing his son the last time. He closed his eyes to enter the eternal sleep, where his wife would greet him.

"Dad! No, wake up! Don't sleep! HELP!" The boy shouted desperately, running outside looking for help to save his father, but no one stopped to help him. A few bumped him along the way as if they didn't even notice him at all. He clenched his hands, seeing his father blood on it as countless Youkai passed him, heading off to do their own thing.

He realized then. Without powers and recognitions, he was a no body. He was just a nameless pebble in the stream of endless people.

"You're not weak! I promise dad, I will be the strongest, and my name shall be feared by all," the boy made a vow as his youki spiked up. His powers were fueled by emotions as he continued watching the fox-fire he produced consumed the only family member he had left in this world.

Another tail grew behind him, joining the rest as they swinging back and forth behind him. He now has five in total, and with it, his demonic energy doubled. Perhaps this was the moment that the cheerful boy changed, and from that day onwards, to him, power was everything. Those that stood on top were truly the strongest and most revered.

In contrast, she only wanted to stand by his side even after he had changed. She trained and practiced tirelessly, hoping to be strong enough to change the broken system of their society. Due to her purer bloodline, her powers eventually exceeded his as she was the first to gain ninth tails even though he'd worked harder than her. She became the pride and joy of the whole inner capital while he was pushed back into the shadow. And like all living things, her parents passed on, allowing her to take on the mantle of leadership to ensure the stability of Kyoto. She took it with pride and used her newfound authority to erase the distinction between classes.

Soon after ascending to her birthright, she required to continue her line as there must always be one true kyuubi for the safety of their home. Without a shred of doubt, she chose him to be her mate even against her parents' previous wishes due to his mixed heritage and bloodline. He couldn't refuse and accepted reluctantly. Sadly, the boy she loved was obsessed with powers as he continued to strive for it every waking hour.

_Do powers change people?_ Yasaka'd asked herself. She hoped it wasn't the case and yearned for a day that happy and cheerful kid would return back to her like the beautiful and bright memory she always cherished.

**XxXxX**

With each step, the pavement cracked under. He was truly strong now, and far more powerful than he had ever been. His immersed youki was leaking from him in unmatched level, infecting the surrounding while chakra was roaming throughout his inner pathways, enhancing all his natural ability passively.

His memory came back in full and fused with the ones he already had. He was still Naruto Uzumaki, but he was also Kurama, the youkai from the slum of the inner capital. He was not the current Kurama in his gut, but the one before that. They had shared almost the same childhood, desperately wanting to be acknowledged. They were more alike than they knew, and now, they were one and the same.

"**Hey, I'm sensing a different kind of energy inside you. It's not chakra. What is it?**" Kurama questioned from the mindscape, opening one of his eyes to examining the surrounding. He was snoozing previously, but strange energy was invading his comfort zone. He didn't like that one bit as it felt foreign to him.

"It's called youki, furball. Demonic energy! Get used to it. Now, shut the fuck up. I'm busy trying to find a way home," Naruto snarled agitatedly. He then stopped running and had a careful examination around the area. Everything looked different than what he'd remembered. The streets and roads were a lot cleaner, and there were many more buildings erected on each side of the path.

Kurama let out a small growl at the insult, but didn't say anything more than that before drifting back to sleep. Whatever was going on with the blond had made the idiot grumpy, and it didn't want to deal with it right now.

"How long have I been gone?" He asked himself while blinking. There was strange aura lingering around Kyoto. It was a very familiar aura to him. He immediately knew who it belong to, but it was everywhere, which was odd. He didn't know the reason for that so he decided to ignore it for now. He had more important thing to do like looking for the entrance back to the inner capital. Luckily, the entrance was located at the same spot, where the Kinkaku-ji, Temple of the Golden Pavilion, stood.

Passing through a secluded torii, a traditional shrine gate, within the temple while flaring his demonic energy, the airspace in between the pillar distorted. He entered the newly created portal and emerged into a completely different world. It was a world stuck in Edo period with ancient houses lined up along the sides of the gravel street with all kind of creatures revealed their faces from the doors, windows and passageways. They stared at him with curiosity as he walked them by in his human form, but they quickly returned to whatever they were doing as his demonic aura was felt.

"Finally. I'm home," Naruto looked at the palace ahead as he passed through the forest. He missed the place as he felt like he had been gone for years.

He was gone for years.

With a powerful leap leaving behind a sizable crater, he jumped over the palace wall, and crashed through the roof of a massive mansion after falling back down again. He fell all the way through to the floor along with the newly made debris in his entry. The destroyed materials were clattering on the waxed marble floor as he landed. He didn't want to wreck his own home, but he wanted to make a flashy entrance. Breaking through the roof was a good way to it, and it definitely got everyone's attentions.

"WHERE ARE YOU BITCH!? GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE FOR SOME NEEDED WHOOPING! IT HAS BEEN LONG OVERDUE!" Naruto roared as his immersed demonic aura filled the hall.

Everyone inside was more than a little stunned. They were not at his demand, but at his intrusion by breaking through the roof. They tilted their head upwards, seeing a newly made hole in the roof as pieces of timbers and tiles still dangling off the edges. It would take a bit of time and money to repair the damage. They returned their head back to normal level and stared at the new comer.

"Who is he?"

Naruto glanced around, seeing some strange faces along with a couple of familiar ones. Everyone was seated in the hall along each side with another person situated at one end on her glorified seat. The throne was the symbol of a ruler, and Naruto wanted to seat on that for a long time. He could now, but unfortunately, it was already occupied by a certain golden-haired girl. The girl was wearing a fancy feathery kimono like a princess from the warring states era. To her sides were fox-lady and a long-nosed old man.

"Who are–," the leader of Tengu called out, but couldn't finished when the blond vanished from the spot right before his very eyes, leaving behind a swirl of leafs. _Where did that come from?_

Startled, everyone snapped to where the intruder had gone as they stood up from their seat. The person they were looking for was now leaning over their host. He moved his face closer to the girl as everyone took a few steps towards him. He narrowed both blue and golden eye as she returned the gaze with her twin golden unflinchingly. She was trying her best to keep her calm composure. It was bit scary, but she would not show any fear.

"Fast, did anyone saw him move?"

"Oh, the Oppai dragon couldn't see anything besides breast?" The fallen angel joked, but inside he was surprised. Whoever this blond was, he was incredibly fast to the point that the angel barely made out his movements.

Azazel turned to face Serafall, who remained silence, in order to see her reaction. She was also having difficult time of following his movement and gave a small nod.

_How many steps did he take? Was it three or four?_ Serafall asked herself.

"What do you think?" Azazel asked.

"I'm not sure, he's very fast and he felt like a Youkai. If that was the case then he would not harm Kunou-chan," Serafall replied thoughtfully.

Azazel nodded.

The fox-lady and Tengu quickly entered their stance to defend their ruler at the moment of notice even though she was temporary until her mother could be found. They both were wondering who this man was as he looked oddly familiar. Where had they seen him before? Regardless whoever he was, anyone bringing harm to their princess would face their wrath. They would lay down their lives for her sake.

"How dare you–," Kunou began, but her cheeks was pulled apart by strong grips. She looked about eleven year old, but with their race, it was difficult to tell how old they really were.

"Skoop dtat," Kunou demanded. Once he let her go, she rubbed her slightly puffy and reddish cheek afterwards. That was very rude of him.

"How dare you do that to Kunou-sama!" the fox-lady shouted alongside the Tengu.

Naruto glared at them as his killing intent erupted and gave each ones a potent dose. It was a new ability he gained, and they saw flashes of their gruesome death before shivering. They almost slipped into unconsciousness from the mental assault and dropped down to their knee soon after. They never experienced killing intent before and had no previous built up resistance against it. With a smug on his face, he returned his attention back to the girl.

"What just happened?"

"He did something to them, but what? I did not see."

"Yasaka!? Why are you a child? What the fuck!? How long have I been gone? Hang on, that makes no sense. You should be older, not younger," Naruto vented. After he was done, he noticed the girl didn't have all nine tails like his wife should have. The tails she showed were clearly visible so she must be in a sealed state at the moment.

"I'm not my m –

"Who are you?" Naruto interrupted, realizing this girl was obviously not his wife. She looked very much like her from long ago when they were children.

"I am Kunou. I am the daughter of Yasaka, the administrator of the youkai living in inner and outer Kyoto. Now, I demand you to state who you are and the reason why did you break in here?" Kunou requested haughtily.

Naruto was in shock. How long had he been gone? He didn't remember his wife was pregnant when he ran off on that day before meeting the Sage. That meant…

"THAT UNFAITHFUL BITCH! SHE DIDN'T LET ME DO IT AND SHE GONE AND DID IT!? I'M GOING TO KILL HER WHEN I SEE HER!" Naruto roared as the whole building shook from his fury.

Azazel and Serafall were now more than alarmed. The amount of demonic energy being released by the blond was on par with an Ultimate-Class Devil, and worst yet, the amount he was releasing increased exponentially. It showed no hint of even slowing down.

"This felt like Sairaorg-san," the boy with brown-haired muttered with dread as he fought with the heir of the Bael Clan earlier in the week.

"It feels slightly different than normal youki," said the girl with long, light brown hair and violet eyes. It was interfering with her angelic power more than it should have.

"WHERE IS YASAKA!? WHERE'S MY WIFE!?" Naruto demanded from the Tengu, who was still huffing heavily from being mentally assault.

"Wife… Kurama-dono?" The Tengu asked while the fox-lady was speechless.

It had been years since Kurama had run off. They didn't chase after him as he always returned again when he done venting, but the last time was different. When he didn't return for days, Yasaka became worried. She then ordered them to send out people for him as she could not leave the capital herself, but despite their effort, no trace of him could be found. He simply vanished, and they thought the worst had happened.

Looking closely, the blond did look a lot like him, only that he was slightly taller and broader. He must have grown in those years away, but where had he been?

"I go by the name Naruto now," Naruto said, lifting the Tengu up by the collar. "Now, where's the fuck is she!?"

"Kur…"

"I said Naruto," Naruto corrected as he was more comfortable with that and Kurama was the sleeping furball's name.

"Naruto-dono, Yasaka-hime has been attacked and kidnapped when she left to meet up with an important messenger from Mount Meru. Her whereabouts is currently unknown, but from what we deduced so far, she must still be in Kyoto as nothing has happened to the city yet. We were able to acquire some leads from our allies; it could the work of a Khaos Brigade. If that was the case, her life is in great danger. Since you are back, Kur… Naruto-dono, we should able to find her quickly with your help," the Tengu explained while everyone remained silence, watching the display.

Kunou was a bit confused. Her mother never told who her father actually was, only that he went somewhere and would return one day again. She was hoping for the day that he would return, but this wasn't the family union she had imagined. Her mother was kidnapped and her father wanted to kill her mother.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the long-nose elderly man as he took in the information. He thought for a bit before letting go of the Tengu. He turned back to the girl, who was still sitting on _his_ seat.

"Get off," Naruto ordered.

Kunou blinked in surprise, but didn't comply.

"I said **GET OFF**!"

"Please, Kunou-hime, come here," the fox-lady requested as the girl vacated the throne and stood by the woman's side.

Naruto sat down to his rightful place, feeling very proud for one reason or another. He leaned back a little and eyed everyone in the room before him.

"So someone went and captured her huh? If she dies then that means I will rule right?" Naruto asked nonchalantly. They all had their shocked faces on from the question. They weren't sure if he was joking or not, but it seemed less likely from his demeanor.

He was being serious?

"You bastard, how you could let someone like that die!" The brown-haired called out.

Naruto paid some attention to the boy, who seemed more upset than him for some unknown reason. It wasn't his wife that got kidnapped so why he seemed to be so upset? Naruto immediately formed some theories in his mind.

"Mother can't…" Kunou began, but was interrupted.

"Naruto-dono, you… can't be serious. If Yasaka-hime is killed, then Kyoto will undergo some very dramatic changes. It would be the death of us all," the Tengu advised from the side while the fox-lady held Kunou tighter.

Naruto licked his lips a little at the comment. He knew what the Tengu was hinting at. A nine-tails was a must for Kyoto. Their existence was responsible for maintaining the balance of Ki flowing from the different areas of this land. Without one, chaos would erupt, and the first thing would happen was their city merging with actual human's one.

Furthermore, Kyoto was a giant magical bomb that would go off if no one were there to maintain its magical flow. It would be disastrous if all that power was not channeled anywhere.

_Power… hmm… _Naruto thought.

"It is fine. We don't need her, I will suffice," Naruto replied before materializing nine crimson red tails behind him. Slit soon appeared in both different colored eyes. The tails were no longer golden fur like he once had, but since he had nine and was a true Kyuubi now, he could displace Yasaka and took control of Kyoto as well as maintaining the force field around their home to keep it safe.

Absolute powers were at his command, and it was what he always wanted. The Tengu could not utter a word from seeing the ominous tendrils behind the blond while Kunou was more than frighten at the bloody red menacing tendrils. It wasn't like her mother's at all. There was no warmth radiated from them, only endless dread.

"Is there anything else?" Naruto asked calmly, glancing at the rest of the people in the hall. There was a devil, an angel, and a fallen from their aura. Members of three great factions were here. He could feel it as his senses were greatly enhanced. He used his ability to decipher their intentions. At the moment, they show no malice so he let them be, but that could change very quickly.

"Otou-sam…"

"I AM NOT YOUR FATHER! DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Naruto snapped at the girl. His hands clenched, trying to restrain himself from killing the child outright. He was more than furious at his wife, for he was sure that Kunou was not his daughter. She was born after he left so it could not have been. It wasn't that long since he disappeared and his wife had changed her heart.

The little girl flinched. Kunou didn't know what the he meant, but tears invaded her eyes from the rejection while the fox-lady tried her best to comfort the young princess.

"Naruto-dono. I can assure you that Kunou-hime is your daughter," the Tengu asserted.

Naruto leered at the youkai. Taking a breath to calm his raging heart, he cocked his head to face the Tengu. "How is that so? I left before she was born so she could not be my daughter," he retorted. Why was he so angry with her? Was it because she broke her oath? Or was it she didn't tell him? Which was it?

The more he thought about it, the more his rage spiked.

"She is, Naruto-sama. Kunou-sama was born less than a year after you disappeared," the fox-lady assured while holding the shivering girl in her gentle arms.

"Is that so? That still did not make her my daughter. The bitch could mate with someone else after I'm gone and gave birth to her," Naruto retorted again. They been married for a while and she still gave him no children. It was a one of the reasons why he wanted to mate with another instead, but Yasaka didn't like the suggestion and she expressed it physically on his body time and time again. Since that was the case, there was a high chance that Kunou could not be his.

"But… but mother said she only loves one person…"

"If that was so, why did she name you Kunou? It means suffering… was she suffering with me?" Naruto snorted.

Kunou blinked. No! That wasn't true. Her mother had said her name was…

Tengu whispered something into Naruto's ear as his eyes widened. He then face palmed at the misconception and assumption on his part.

"Sorry, my bad, Ku-nou, nine-weights, but that doesn't prove anything," Naruto apologized and reasserted his stance on the matter.

"Ah, excuse me, but you should get a blood test or something along that line instead of guessing," said a tall man appearing to be in his twenties with an average build, black hair, golden bangs and black goatee. Azazel decided to speak up finally, seeing how this was going very badly.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the suggestion. Since his bodies had merged, a blood test would not work anyway. Too much things had changed, and the changes had bothered him more than a little. For one, their capital would not allow anyone that was not a youkai in. Foreign messenger and diplomat come and go, but only one at a time. However, there were five people that were not supposed to be here at all.

"Who the fuck are you?" Naruto decided to ask with some irritation.

Azazel's eyes twitched at the demand. While the fallen angel was quiet laid-back and let things slide pass him, he didn't like being insult right in his face. The black-haired man exhaled, letting it go. They were guests so they shouldn't escalate thing.

"My deepest apology; my name is Azazel. I represent the Fallen Angel Faction. It is an honor to meet you, Naruto-dono," Azazel greeted before introducing the rest of the people with him.

Serafall did her own introduction, however. She tried her best not to give him any form of nickname.

Naruto had a brief glance at each one that was introduced with a nod. "I'm Naruto and that's all you need to know," he said.

"With the introduction out the way, you can all leave as this problem no longer concern you," Naruto said, outstretching his hand and showing them the entrance at the other end of the hall. He had decided he will find his wife and get the truth out of her one way or another.

"Hey, wait a minute! We here to help Kunou-chan and rescue onee-sama," Issei declared, not wanting to leave just like that. He wanted to see massive breasted Miko in person. That wasn't the only reason though, but it was the one that stood out the most.

"Hah, please, the Oppai dragon only wanted a reward," Azazel snickered a little as a joke.

Xenovia, Asia and Irina were nodding their heads and gave their jabs as well. Sadly, they couldn't have known that Naruto didn't like comment like that about his wife regardless whatever he felt about her right now.

"Reward…" Naruto muttered then his mind clicked.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Naruto roared after understanding what the fallen angel had meant and disappeared from his seat in a swirl of leaves.

Serafall and Azazel immediately tracked the blond's movement and intercept as fast as they could. They clashed before the blond could carry out his declaration, which would definitely result in a dead pervert in the most gruesome manner.

A boom exploded from the collisions as the three combatants flipped back to disengage. Both Serafall and Azazel felt their arms pulsated in pain. Naruto clenched his fist from the opposite side, checking the hand and realized these two had enough strength to block his attack even if he was somewhat serious at killing the pervert.

"YOU GUYS GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!" Azazel ordered and realized his mistake.

"I wonder how strong I am against the great Azazel and Leviathan," Naruto said with a smile as his body was coated with flickering with reddish aura. Youki and Chakra propagated through his limbs as his eyes became sharper; the blue one had golden tint around it while the other was vice versa.

"Please wait, Naruto-dono," the Tengu beseeched but it was too late. Naruto disappeared in an orange flash and smashed his full strength, capable of shattering multiple buildings to rubbles, right into Azazel's solar plexus before the man realized what had just happened.

Azazel might be able to block the strike if he wasn't stunned at the speed that was displayed. He felt several of his ribs cracked under the blow as he gasped in pain.

Serafall's eyes widened. She couldn't track the blond at all. It was like he wasn't moving and more like teleporting from one point to another instantly. What kind of ability was that? Also, what this strange aura around him? It seemed to become thicker each passing second.

"Senjutsu!?"

* * *

**Author Note:**

I was going to have Naruto fight Issei and whatever Rias' peerage there, but it more like swatting a fly than anything and it wouldn't fun to write about. I mean the battle would last one paragraph, so I'm having Naruto fight Azazel and Serafall instead.

All Naruto's ability are modified right now, his Senjutsu are hybrid between Shinobi and DXD universe. Yes… he grew more bloodlust the longer it's active. His strength, speed, defense kept on increasing due to Touki (Fighting Spirit) and infinite chakra. They make the aura coating denser every passing moment and ever more increasing devastating strike. Think Issei's boost ability on endless mode.


	3. Self-Reflection (2)

**Youkai no Bikou (Naruto x DXD)**

**Disclaimer: **This story is fiction. All the characters, names and places belong to their respective owners.

People kept bitching about power levels. It's my story; I can make him God if I wanted to. Anyway, there is a time gap between the Fourth Shinobi War versus the time he arrived at DXD world so there are a few new techniques I added. Unlike the cannon, Naruto has no decrease in power, if anything, he's freaking stronger than the time he fought against Kaguya. Anyway, the story isn't about fighting or power up even though it seems like so right now.

* * *

**=[Self-Reflection]=  
2**

"Are you alright? Yasaka-hime," the elderly Tengu asked with concern. It only been a few hours since Kurama-dono had ran off, yet again. The prideful fox would return eventually once he cooled off enough elsewhere alone. It happened fairly often – at least once a week – and nobody made a big deal out of it anymore.

"I'm fine. It's not as painful as it used to be," Yasaka replied, rubbing her wrist in mild discomfort. She was sitting on a couch with nine of her golden tails wrapping around her body in a caring manner. She blinked tiredly, clearing away the haziness while feeling great stress upon her body. Her golden eyes then scanned around the chamber before a heavy sigh could be heard. Even with her servants around, she was more alone than anyone. She caressed her slightly swollen stomach lovingly. Both joys and worries were felt in that instant. Joys for the new life that was stirring within her and worries because…

"Perhaps you are too hard on Kurama-dono," the Tengu said. He knew what was going on between the couple, but kept his opinion to himself mostly. It was not his place to say.

"Am I?"

"Yes, I believed so, and I'm not alone in the matter."

"I see… do you think I enjoy hurting him?"

"No," the man replied without any shred of doubt.

"He's growing stronger each day. No one in the capital could match his strength besides me. It pained me every time when I do it," Yasaka said sorrowfully. "Do you know? I'm truly afraid… I feared for what could happen when he finally acquired his last tail. I could no longer stop him. Even after all these years, I still could not change his mind."

Her husband believed that only the strong should rule and as such he would not listen to her if she could not defeat him in combat. However, he would run off before he could be defeated. He didn't want to admit it, so he avoided the confrontation all together. That was cowardice in her opinion.

The fox-lady, who continued to remain quite, handed her mistress a handkerchief so Yasaka could clear the pooling liquid away, but Yasaka felt like she was about to throw up.

"Yasaka-hime!" Both servants shouted with distress, trying to help their beloved leader.

Yasaka waved a hand, telling them that everything was fine. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath and expelled it soon after. She repeated several more times before revealing her golden eyes again.

"I am fine… I can't show weakness, especially not right now. If I do, he would be more unmanageable than he is," Yasaka insisted.

The old Tengu shook his head. "You can't keep this up, Yasaka-hime. It will do more harm than good. If Kurama-don ruled in your stead, it would lessen the burden you must bear."

"I… I don't mind him ruling in my stead, but his ways of thinking are wrong. He'd lived in the oppression of others for so long that he's unable to see true strength lies elsewhere. If he were to rule, he would become the oppressor. He will become the very thing he detested and he would hate himself more than anyone. Leading our people takes more than just brute force, but he doesn't understand that," Yasaka replied.

She had tried her best to eradicate the distinction of classes within their society once she became the undisputed ruler of inner Kyoto. It was changing slowly with many obstacles. Not everyone accepted the changes, but the majority did and they were generally happier. The bright future she'd envisioned would surely arrive. At least she hoped it would be during her child's time.

"Kurama-dono still does not know?"

"No, I've prolonged it for so long, and I truly do not know what he could do once he learns of it," Yasaka answered.

Her husband only cared about training and become stronger so one day he would stand on top of everyone even if he must force them to kneel. Strength and power were everything to him. She understood the reason why he was like that, but her belief was vastly different. It was not how much power you wield, but what you intend to do with it. Sadly, he would use it for the wrong reason, and she was unable to change his mind.

Yasaka knew she would continue to weaken during this critical period as most of her energy and strength would be drained in order to keep the growing fetus strong. She was afraid of the unknown as she could no longer understand him fully. The boy she loved was almost completely shrouded in darkness, and he was beyond her reach.

"But, Yasaka-sama, if you don't tell him soon, it will be too late. Kurama-sama had lost both of his parents so I believed if there was a child of his own, he would remember what having a loving family was like," the fox-lady suggested. The Tengu agreed wholly.

A child might be the very thing that avert Kurama from his dark path and gave him another goal. After all, he lost his mother during childbirth and his father when he was still young. He had to do everything for himself afterward, and he surely would understand the pain of being an orphan; the pain of being all alone.

Yasaka took quite a bit of time, pondering about their advices. There was a small chance, but it was better than none. "I will tell him when he returns, which should be in few days from now," she finally said.

Both of her closest confidents nodded with a smile.

They waited for the prideful fox to return, but unfortunately, years went by and one misunderstand was compounded onto another while Yasaka raised the child by herself, hoping each day he would kick open the door and challenged her to a fight. She even missed their constant argument.

Eventually, her fear of losing the only thing that was his legacy had caused her to stop her only child from ever leaving the palace.

**XxXxX**

Red was the color of blood. All he saw was blood as the paved ground of the outer hall shattered before his fist even collided against the concrete. The person he sought to inflict harm had managed to evade his fist cleanly, and with every failed strike he unleashed, the bottled up rage and fury within multiplied greatly.

Bloodlust filled his being completely.

He did not realize it then. This was not the Elemental Nation where the nature energy had no inherited ill-will. There was no devil or youkai there to intoxicate the area with their demonic aura. Only humans with great powers inhabited that place. It was not like his home, and he'd forgotten that piece of critical information. A clear mind was a must for the usage of Senjutsu. Using it here meant he inadvertently took in the world's malicious intent, filling his mind with its corruptive and destructive will. Continuing taking it all in, the reddish aura around him flared up and became thicker each passing moment.

Naruto was drunk. Not with alcohol, but with powers that was now at his commands. Overwhelming uncontested power, and the more he was immersed in it, the harder it to return from. All he wanted to do was rip apart all those that dare to stand in his way.

He swung his hand to the side to slash out at the girl that managed to evade the previous blow. Even if she did, being so close to the invisible aura around his limb, it still produced enough force to knock her clearly away.

Serafall was sure she had avoided it completely, but the heavy blow on her person from that single swipe told her otherwise. As she glided through the air, an orange flash appeared right before her eyes and in midair. She knew what was to come as she put both of her hands in defensive position. A strong, unwavering fist slammed into it. Her body was slapped from its intended flight path into the hardened ground, uplifting countless already crushed rubbles of the courtyard. The whole area shook heavily. It was powerful, but she could still handle it. She quickly rolled to the side and jumped out the way as the double leg stomp crashed into the crater making much larger.

"Thanks, Asia, now you lots get out of here," Azazel ordered them again after he was healed. Serafall had brought enough time for him to recover from the injury and returned once more to tip top shape. The sucker punch he tanked was strong enough to crack several his ribs. He knew he shouldn't have frozen up like that then. He dashed forwards to help the twin-haired girl as she was struggling with the blond rather insane speed. It was more like the blond was teleporting around, and they only had a fraction of a second to block the relentless assault.

"Is this a real battle between Ultimate-Class… Devils?" Issei asked, seeing the explosion of debris and shockwave with each strike they tried to land on each other. They weren't using any magical attack so far, only raw strength and speed, but it was incredible.

"And one angel," Irina added with a hint of pride. Even though Azazel was a fallen, the teacher was still an angel, belonging to her current species. However, she was nervous as it was two versus one and neither side seemed to be winning at the moment. It appeared that the blond was having an upper hand, forcing the other two into defensive stance constantly. "We should get out of here. I think the battle will be more destructive soon and we might get hit in the crossfire."

"Please stop fighting! Naruto-dono! Maou-dono! Governor-dono!" The Tengu called out desperately as shockwaves propagated throughout the building and its foundation, but to no avail. The fox-lady, on the other hand, held the Kunou tighter and shielded the girl from whatever piece of projectile flying their way.

While Azazel and Serafall wanted to comply with the man's wish as they were guests after all, they could not. If they let down their guard for only a brief moment, they would be pummeled around badly and wouldn't end up with mere bruises.

"This is bad…" Azazel blocked the strike from the blond's fist while Serafall tried to retaliate in his stead, but the blond blocked her fist with one of his legs. The blond disappeared in a flash again as they immediately tried to sense where his next strike would come through their experience and inhuman reflex. With each consequent attack they successfully blocked, their arms became heavier from the accumulated damage.

"Levi-tan knows it's not good, but what else can she do?" Serafall replied as she felt her muscle was turning to mush. Her opponent's attacks became more rapid and savage like a feral animal. Initially, she could evade and block it with ease, but it had become increasingly difficult to do so.

"It must be **_Touki_**. We have to stop him quickly before he gets any stronger," Azazel hinted grimly as he formed light spears in his hands. Touki, known as fighting spirit, created an aura around Senjutsu user to increase their attack, speed, and defense tremendously. How much greater would depend on the user's life force and will powers.

Naruto lacked neither of that as his ability exploded and increasing at an exponent rate along with his bloodlust and battle spirit. He would not stop until everyone around him was dead.

Serafall nodded in agreement as her armguards rippled in pain. She thought his strength would reach it peak by now, but she was wrong. It would overwhelm her and Azazel soon, thus she needed to change to a more effective tactic.

Magic power flared up as potent demonic aura filled the area. She blocked another flying kick with both hands. Solid ice immediately encased the offending leg. He glanced briefly at it before disappearing again, preventing Serafall from following up.

Azazel blocked the assault with his light weapon with one hand as shattered ice showered him. He formed another spear and did a slash across the blond body, but missed entirely.

Both of them frowned. Even though they could match his strength, his astonishing speed was too much for them or anyone for that matter. The blond wasn't moving through the air, he was simply teleporting one point to another without pause. It gave off the impression that their opponent was attacking both of them simultaneously.

"Please! I apologize for my misconduct, Naruto-dono. I meant no disrespect," Azazel called out as he blocked another strike with a light spear. Azazel was shocked as a strange energy sphere in blond's palm drilled through the light construct, shredding it rapidly. He had to let it go and disengaged before it could completely pierce through and hit him. The blond continued onward, ramming his palm into the ground before the whole chunk of it disappeared in a torrent of raging wind.

"SERAFALL!" Azazel shouted, seeing the devastation that attack would wreck on their body, but it was too late. Serafall blocked his fist with both of her hands, trying to freeze it over. However, his other hand slammed a rasengan into her abandonment. She screamed in pain as her tender flesh was grinded by the technique before he kicked her away.

A trail of blood illustrated the path she was sent.

Dust erupted backward as he propelled forward, forming two deadly spheres in each hand as Serafall crashed through the palace's wall. Luckily for his intended victim, dozens of light spear flew towards him as he was forced to utilize the technique to smash apart the abnormal ammos.

Thanked to the distraction, Azazel managed to get into the blond's blind spot and inflicted several very deep gashes.

Naruto grunted and disappeared in another orange flash.

"Grrr…" Naruto growled and panted, feeling the shooting pain over his body. It was excruciating enough to snap him out of bloodlust and regained a little control of his mind.

Naruto looked down at the injuries he sustained, sliding his finger across the wound as his blood escaped and descended down to the floor. It was healing slowly.

Azazel took this time to help Serafall up. She was also healing from her grievous wound. There was a missing chunk of flesh around her gut, completely shredded by the attack she'd recently received.

Issei and the gang were still close by, unable to leave the area after seeing such battle. Asia tried to heal Serafall with her Sacred Gear, the Twilight Healing, but she must get closer for it to be effective. Issei, Irina and Xenovia wanted to help their friends as well and manifested their weapons.

"Stay back! I told you guys to get out of here!" Azazel ordered them as twelve black wings materialized on his back, no longer restraining his power.

Serafall was huffing as bat-like wings formed on her back as well. Ice started to cover the ground all around the girl while she rubbed her wound. It would take a bit more time to heal sufficiently. Luckily, they had some breathing space as the blond was more injured than they were.

_Good job, Azazel-chan,_ Leviathan thought on Azazel's part as she felt Asia continued to heal her from a distant.

"Please Naruto-dono. We do not wish to fight. We're only here, lending our help in finding Yasaka-san," Azazel implored, watching the blond carefully as the crimson aura around the blond dissipated.

"Naru-t…o, there's no reason for us to fight! We shouldn't waste our energy fighting each other. So instead, we should help each other out," Serafall said. She'd almost given him a childish nickname. That would cause more trouble than they currently have.

Naruto glared at them with dark expression. "Lend Help? Work together? You all think so highly of yourself. The so called great races believed nothing in the world can get done without their direct help and support. Are we so weak that we could not rely on our own powers for our own problem!? THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOUR KIND! I WILL SHOW EVERYONE THAT!"

Naruto demonic aura rose to a new level. He ripped his tattered shirt apart to reveal the numerous black lines covering his whole body. They spread across his body and face, and using whatever form of energies they could find to instantly heal the grievous wounds.

Azazel and Serafall couldn't believe their eyes as the deep slashes Azazel had inflicted on the blond closed up and vanished as if it wasn't there.

"I-Instant regeneration?" Serafall stuttered. It was like the Phenex family as they could negate any fatal wounds as long as they had enough power to do so. Serafall felt his demonic energy hadn't depleted a single bit during the action. In fact, it was increasing at an alarming rate. If their opponent had no limit to his energy pool, then this was a battle they would surely lose.

"**Hah! I can't believe you got injured from something like that. Neglecting your training during time of peace has dire consequences,**" Kurama jested in the mindscape. The fox was woken up the moment the blond entered Senjutsu. The foreign energy was invading its personal space more than usual.

_What the fuck? You were watching the whole time? Why didn't you help at all you stupid furball!_

"**Hey! Don't blame me! I was calling you the moment you use Senjutsu, but you didn't reply at all! It's like you were deaf!**"

_I can't think clearly when using it here,_ Naruto replied mentally. Senjutsu granted him greater degree of power, but it made him quite feral and disregarding all strategy. The ability was not working as it should, and not knowing why vexed him.

"Please, that's not what we meant. We're really only wanted to help –

"ENOUGH! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR!" Naruto clenched his fist tightly with deep hatred flaring in his eyes. "Devils and angels, do you know how much I hate you lots? Starting a meaningless war and claiming so many of my kind when it has nothing to do with us to begin with. You should have just killed each other off in then. Now, you devised a slave system, using my kind as nothing but cheap soldiers in your game and casting us aside when our ability cannot bring you the thing you wanted."

Azazel looked at Serafall, who gave the fallen angel a frown. Those that outside the Evil Pieces and Brave Saint system seemed to see it that way, especially when it comes to the rating games. It was more complicated than that, however.

The Evil Pieces might have lost its original meaning in the passing centuries, but there were still those that held onto the ideal it once represented. Unfortunately, there were far more devils who used the privilege it gave to subjugate others.

"That's not true!" Issei called out, causing Nauto to leer furiously at him. The brown-haired boy gulped at the killer gaze, but mustered enough confident in himself to continue speaking. "Buchou-san isn't like that. She cared for all of us. I was weak… I still am. I was no body, but she found me, saved me and gave me a goal. She's proud and prideful at times, but she's the most kind and caring I know. She's nothing like what you said!"

"Issei-san," Asia murmured while Xenovia formed a small approving smile.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the Issei, examining the red clawed gauntlet that was covering the boy's arm. "Issei, you are naïve," the blond began, pointing at the Sacred Gear the boy had. "She will cast you aside once you're no longer useful like my father. When you lose that, you are nothing more than a burden and will be discarded."

"Issei-san is not naïve! Rias-san will never do something like that!" Asia defended those that were important to her. None of them believe that what Rias would do.

"Hmmm? Did she not make you one of her peerage because of that healing power you just used? What was the price for that?" Naruto asked Asia.

"No, Rias-san gave me a new life. I'm indebted to her. I will do my best to help her," Asia answered shyly.

"So you're nothing more than a slave?" Naruto quipped, revising the second set of memory about the life he'd lived. He felt his actions were completely dictated by others. Having a naïve sense of justice and stubbornness on top of that, he was nothing more than a pawn. A piece that can be swayed far too easily by those that constantly lied to him again and again. He knew the entire truth in the end, and he saw clearly the nature of those he called friends, but he still forgiven them and all their folly.

_Trash, I am._ Naruto thought more about his foolishness. "Those that are being used and accepted that knowingly are trash. They should all be removed," he said as his demonic aura intensified greatly.

"Serafall!" Azazel called and prevented Naruto from attacking the other group with numerous light spears along with Serafall's ice magic. "I told you to get out of here! Kids don't listen to their teacher these days!"

"You will get your turn soon, now get lost!" Naruto bellowed, blocking Serafall's strike that managed to turn much of his body into an icy pole almost instantly. He sent the twin-haired girl flying with an uppercut before he was completely frozen, however.

"GARGH!" Naruto broke out the ice with that was almost encased his body with pure brute force, but he was pierced by a light spear as his legs were still frozen in place. "GRRR…"

"**Looks like they're giving you a hard time,**" Kurama sneered after seeing the blond struggle. "**It's two against one. That's not very fair. Let me play as well since they're pretty good.**"

It wasn't a game. Naruto didn't answer the fox as he could beat them since his mind was clearer than before. He had seen most of their techniques by now, but they haven't seen anything from him yet.

Naruto avoided a few more deadly projectiles made of solidified light and grabbed the light spear that was still embedded to his shoulder. He pulled it out and snapped it in half as the gaping wound healed in fraction of a second. Reddish potent energy seeped out his body, giving him a fiery glowing overcoat like flickering flames. Massive amount of it erupted upward, splitting apart like branches before taking a new form.

"Are those things made of energy?" Irina asked, feeling dreadful feeling from the created nine tails. It was much more different than the one the blond showed before. The rest of gang didn't really know the answer to that.

Azazel and Serafall also pondered what they were.

"His aura isn't as potent as before, but he's much stronger now so be careful," Azazel advised as Serafall nodded. She puffed her chest up and wanted to end this fight as quickly as possible. The longer they dragged it out, the less favorable it would become. They both lurched forward.

However, as soon as they got close to their target, the end of each tendril split apart, forming something akin to a hand. Two slaps later that looked that looked like a couple of flash even to the receiver, Azazel and Serafall were coughing out blood as the energy hand pummeled them into ground. It felt like they were hit and crushed with an unfathomable massive mountain at a speed they could not react to. One moment they were in the air, the next they were inside a sizable crater with shattered bones and pulverized organs.

_Kurama-dono… Is this the powers you have gained?_ The Tengu asked himself, seeing the blond looked down at his defeated opponent with condescending expression.

"Oto… Naruto-sama is really strong… he could save mother…" Kunou murmured as the fox-lady nodded, but whether he wanted to was the problem.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his opponents' defeated form. Two of the chakra arms formed a miniature rasenshuriken within their palm instantly. The loud screeching noise the mini orbs gave off was incredibly deafening. He was about slam them into their targets, but two powerful blasts crashed into him from the side. He winced and tried to hold his ground, but he was sent through multiple walls soon enough.

The miniature rasenshurikens fell out of his energy hands in the process.

Issei panted heavily. He expended large amount of magical energy in that blast, but it was worth it. It'd allowed Azazel and Serafall to get away as the screeching ball finally impacted into something solid on the ground. In an instant, the orbs expanded into a large sphere, taking a large chunk out of the building and ground before imploding. A vacuum of space was generated, drawing in heavy gust of wind into it.

"He was going to hit us with that!?" Azazel huffed in shock, rubbing his chest as Asia tried to heal Serafall. The orb was like the power of destruction, vaporizing everything in spherical boundary upon contract.

"What kind of Sacred Gear do you have?" Naruto asked and stepped out of the hole he was just sent into. The Chakra arms tore apart the hindering wall at his mental command as he brushed some dirt off his skin with his actual hands. "I actually felt that even I'm in this mode. I'm impressed, and here I thought you were just a pervert who want to fuck my wife."

_No… well I thought of it… _Issei blinked under his Welsh Blaster Bishop armor, seeing the target was completely fine. "I've put a lot of power into that!"

"Looks like we're going to die here," Azazel jested and coughed a little. The battle had taken a lot out of him, but a little humor did lighten up the grim and dark atmosphere. Their opponent was simply too much for them and Azazel speculated that it was not all the blond could do.

"Levi-tan can't die here," Serafall added her comment, feeling most of her injury was healed by Asia.

"At least we agreed on something, Azazel," Naruto replied impassively as several of existing Chakra arms came together in front of him. A black orb formed in the center, pulsing with great power. "This is different than the little sphere I used before. This one has the power to erase this whole area and everything within it. I might as well destroy and rebuilt the palace from scratch."

With that said, Naruto threw it toward the group as they all were paralyzed at the orb of death. The end was imminent and there was no way to evade it quickly enough. If the small ones from before were able to take out large chunk of the building and ground, the large sphere would do exactly what he'd said.

How could someone manifest that much power without breaking a single sweat?

_Kurama-dono, are you willing to kill your daughter in your blind hatred? Yasaka-hime was right. You will become a tyrant, oppressing others through the powers you gained._ The Tengu thought and closed his eyes. "Please forgive me, Yasaka-hime."

"Otou-sama…?" Kunou muttered while the fox-lady held the small girl tightly.

"Woops," Naruto said as he stopped the ball with several Chakra arms before it could hit the group. It shrank rapidly and disappeared in their confines. He almost did something he would definitely regret later. Naruto glanced at the group with a blank expression. "I don't need to destroy my own home just to kill you. I could rip you all apart in an instant, so who's first?"

"AS IF I LET YOU DO THAT! I'm going to stop you!" Issei declared as his armor glowed and shifted into a more powerful version. "**Cardinal Crimson Promotion!**"

"We will stop you!" Xenovia and Irina drawn the weapons as Serafall puffed up with newfound pride and strength. Azazel shook his head and readied himself for the final battle. They would most likely die here, but at least they would go out with a bang. Issei seemingly teleported right in front of Naruto by using his speed, readying to attack the blond as everyone joined in immediately soon afterward.

"**Really foolish aren't they?**"

_Apparently, they don't know they are greatly outclassed_, Naruto replied with a thought as he stood his ground and used a couple of energy arms to block the heavy mech-thing that was Issei. Seven more pounded the living out of Issei before blocking the rest of the gang's attacks. The gang tried to follow up, but all their attacks were blocked with minimal effort. Any damage they manage to inflict on the arms disappeared once their owner channeled his nearly limitless energy to make them whole again.

"This is getting pointless," Naruto said, grabbing them all with newly sprouted Chakra Arms.

The group was shocked that their opponent could create dozen more.

Naruto slammed them into each other before smashing each several times into the solid concrete with incredible force and speed before letting them landed all together into a heap.

"Ah well… at least I had a great harem…" Azazel muttered, feeling most of bones were smashed into bits from the beat down. He was in agonizing pain, but he shown none of that on his face.

"I want a harem before I go… damn it," Issei sobbed, having lost his transformation when the damages had exceeded what it could endure. They were delirious from the pain.

"Levi-tan can't lose to something like this," Leviathan claimed, struggling to stand up. Asia, Xenovia and Irina were unconscious from their injuries long before they were let go.

Naruto formed a small onyx sphere on the tip of his fingers and pointed at them. A few extremely long seconds passed while he watched his defeated opponents. They never stood the chance against him in the first place, yet they still try. He wasn't even tired at all even with all the injuries they inflicted on him.

"**Okay, can you stop showing off? I know you're not going to do it.**"

_Don't push me, furball. I can kill them in a heartbeat, _Naruto replied as the miniature sphere pulsed, but did not leave his fingers as it should.

"Kunou-hime! Stop!" The fox-lady called out as the small girl stood before the blond with her hands spread out, protecting those that were behind her.

"And what you think you are doing?" Naruto asked Kunou.

"You already won so you don't need to kill them," Kunou answered with completely unflinching pair of golden eyes. Her legs were visibly shaken, however. The gesture she displayed was oddly familiar as it happened before in his memory.

_"Stop hurting them! You've already won, there's no point in doing further than this!" Yasaka blocked him from crippling those that dare to insult his deceased father and mother. He could have knocked her out the way and continued, but something stopped him then._

"Yasaka," Naruto muttered lowly. "Why?"

"It's… B-because I gave them my words that would not be harm while they are here and under my protection," Kunou answered. "I was afraid before, but this has gone too far, Otou-sama."

Naruto's aura spiked at the last word as he approached her with dark expression. Each step he took caused Kunou to take one back, but she eventually ran out of the space to retreat. The blond stared down at the girl as her eyes betrayed her conviction.

He outstretched out his hand while the deadly sphere as Kunou closed her eyes and covered her head in fright. However, instead of what she thought would come, a gentle hand ruffled her golden hairs and ears gently and she unhide her golden eyes slowly.

"You are just like your mother. A crybaby, but never back down when it matters the most," Naruto said softly. This was the first time Kunou seen her father complimented and smiled at her.

* * *

**Author Note:**

I don't remember where Yasaka was held captive during this time. It wasn't exactly in Kyoto. Is that right? I might need to read that part again in the novel. Naruto always perfected his techniques. You notice the changes in rasengan, they all implode inward, vaporizing everything in cellular level. It's more focused than cannon. All his transformations are perfect, boosting his base ability greatly. Order of transformation: Sage/Hermit Mode, Humanoid Bijuu Mode, Full Bijuu Mode (Full-size Bijuu), Sage Transformation. There's one more after Sage Transformation. It's not stronger, but that isn't what make it dangerous (I hinted in the first chapter what is is).


	4. Self-Reflection (3)

**Youkai no Bikou (Naruto x DXD)**

**Disclaimer: **This story is fiction. All the characters, names and places belong to their respective owners.

* * *

**=[Self Reflection]=  
3**

Groaning and moaning noises escaped their blistered lips. Their bodies and limbs were completely bandaged up and held in place by numerous overhanging strings protruding from metal supports from either side of the bed. Every effort they tried to move induced excruciating pains. They must have known that their bones had been shattered into fragments. Their muscles had been pulled to shred. Their organs had been pulverized to mush. What a sorry state they were in as numerous creatures of all manners – youkai as they were commonly known – situated around the patients while the hospital staff checked on the injures.

"I'm so glad that it wasn't us," the brown-haired boy said and gulped at the sight across the massive hall with rows of bed aligned neatly. He was also bandaged up along with friends, but it wasn't as bad as some of the patients here. It seemed like a few people got beat up after them for whatever reason.

"How are you feeling?" The angelic voice asked from the bedside. She was an angel in all sense of the word. Irina had already recovered from her injuries somewhat along with Xenovia, who was frowning while checking her sword. Both were still bedridden, but not in excruciating pain any longer. Asia was still unconscious while Serafall and Azazel looked much better and was readied to walk about any time now.

"I'm so touched," Issei could only cry with joy at the adorable worried face of the angel of purity. But in all seriousness, he was feeling a depressed at his powerlessness. He didn't remember exactly what happened several hours ago. He tried to attack a certain blond, only was grabbed by those strange arms, and in a fraction of a second that followed, he was hammered and pounded dozens of times in all directions. There was no time to use boost, and the force behind each blow was so much that his armor shattered soon afterward.

Letting out a sigh, Issei smiled at Irina. "I'm feeling a lot better now, Irina-chan."

"Good to know. I think you were the most injured. He didn't relent at all," Irina hinted and looked at another bed. "Asia is the least injured, but still in critical condition. I hope she wake up soon. We could use her healing ability right about now."

"Issei, the only reason you survive is because of your Sacred Gear. It seems to take the brunt of the force in your place," Azazel hinted with a dark expression. "You should thank it when you have a chance."

"Ddraig, thanks for your help," Issei gave his appreciation immediately. The heavenly dragon groaned a little inside him.

"No problem, partner. At least you're still alive and kicking for another day. That's good I guess. But a piece of advice, don't try that again. You are not at the level to use that promotion, and not against someone of that caliber. I didn't have time to transfer the necessary power to you before you were knocked out," the deep voice warned from within him. "He's not like your typical opponent, who allowed you all the time needed to boost so plan out next time."

"There will be next time?" Issei asked.

"Who knows? With your luck of finding people hating you, the chances are very high," the red dragon answered nonchalantly. "Anyway, rest now, and I will as well."

Issei complied while Serafall go out of bed and stretched a little as the kimono – distinctively like a bathrobe – hanging loosely around her frame. It was very erotic seeing how the bandaged wrapped tightly around her body underneath. In fact, all the girls around him were like that. Azazel also got up and stretched a little as well but with an anguished expression every now and then.

"Governer-dono, Maou-dono," the old Tengu called out when he approached their area. Behind him was a short golden-haired girl with matching golden eyes. To her side was the fox-lady. Issei pondered why he hadn't got their names yet, if they have one. "I'm glad you are fine. We were unsure what to do when Naruto-dono left on an important matter. We could only bring you to the closest suitable location so that you can rest."

"I'm sorry, everyone," Kunou apologized deeply. "I wanted to treat you in the palace, but father refused to let you stay. I will try to get you better accommodation. I promised."

"Kunou-chan, this place is good enough. Although a little noisy, but at least no one tried to kill us here so please lifted your head," Issei answered with a smile as the girl brightened up.

"Once Asia awake, we should return to our hotel," Irina suggested.

"I agreed. The others will be worried if we do not return soon," Xenovia added. Even if they were still injured, it was clearly that they were unwelcomed here in the inner Kyoto so why stay.

"But we said we would help Kunou-chan in finding her mother," Issei called out.

Azazel cocked his head at the brown-haired boy and remembered it was his remark that got them in trouble in the first place. It seemed like the blond did not take kindly to any form of insult against Yasaka even if it was a joke. The fallen angel sighed afterward and let the youngsters arguing about what they should do next.

"There will be great changes in the capital," Azazel mumbled lowly, but it was heard by the old Youkai.

"Yes. Words had spread of his return, and it will be hard to keep the thing they way they are," the Tengu said with a frown. "Kurama-dono has supporters even before his disappearance. They have decreased in numbers, but some still remain. And now that he'd showed he was strong enough to defeat Governer-dono and Maou-dono in single combat, his supporters will only grow. It's unfortunate, but many of us still believed in the old ways where strength was absolute."

The Tengu simply spoke the truth. Nine-tails were one of the most powerful subspecies of their race. If strength was not absolute then many would have already tried to overthrow their leader long ago. They did not because they feared Yasaka and from that fear, they accepted her as their leader.

"Does that mean there could be no peace between us?" Serafall asked, tightening her robe. She came to inner Kyoto to negotiate a peace treaty with Yasaka on behalf the underworld. Sadly, Yasaka was already kidnapped then so the negotiation could not happen. Serafall feared that the animosity between their races only widened further. "Why does Naru-tan hates us so much?"

"Naru-tan? Please reframe from calling Naruto-dono that. He might take it personally," the Tengu said lowly as Azazel looked quite guilty, but Serafall was optimistic about the blond liking the nickname.

"I have served Yasaka-hime for a long time. I have seen much and I believed Naruto-dono does not 'hates' your race, Maou-dono. What he hates is his powerlessness. I believed it stems from the inability to save his father when he was younger," the Tengu speculated as the other in the room calmed down.

"Grandfather…?" Kunou asked as the Tengu nodded.

"Do you know about the purity of race?" the Tengu asked the attentive group.

"It's something to do about pureblood?" Issei gave his answer. Irina and Xenovia said something along that line while Azazel and Serafall remained silent. They already knew what it was, but pureblood began to decline over the previous decades. More and more species joined their ranks as reincarnated angels or devils didn't help the matter.

"Yes that is about right," Tengu said, accepting the answers. "We have multitude of origins, originating from many legends from all over the worlds. We then are placed into many clans all according to where we came from. Pureblood is desired as leader because mixed blood would weaken a clan's power and most likely cause an extinction of a certain clan if the degeneration of their bloodline has became too severe."

Kunou was interested since she never really knew how many clans there were. Azazel and Serafall had some idea, but the sheer numbers of Youkai existed in the world made it difficult to track them all. Irina and Xenovia had no idea on a numbers.

"How many clans are there?" Issei decided to just ask.

"There are many, if I describe them all, we would be here for a very long time. But any youkai clan within this region fall under jurisdiction of the Kitsune Clan of Kyoto," the Tengu answered somewhat truthfully. He couldn't really count how many as there were numerous minor one migrating all across Japan. "It might not appear to be so from first glance, but Naruto-dono is of a mixed blood Kitsune. His father, Kunou-hime's grandfather, was a pureblood Kyuubi, but his mother was not. Because of their union, Naruto-dono did not have a status as he should have."

"Huh? Isn't Kyuubi and Kitsune the same thing?" Issei asked. He wasn't knowledgeable on the matter, but it sounded they were the same name for fox Youkai and used interchangeably.

"It's is and it's not. It's hard to explain without examples, Issei-kun," Azazel stated and paused for a few moments to think on it. "Let's take devils for example. There are devils of standard class all the way to Ultimate-Class like Serafall over here."

Serafall puffed up with pride from the compliment. She was one of the youngest of their race to reach Ultimate Class level. Even though she was the weakest of the Satan, she was still far more powerful than many others in the underworld.

Azazel chuckled and continued. "Sirzechs Lucifer is a different class all together. He is what one would consider as a Super Devil. And likewise, my race also has something similar."

"Seraphim," Irina said as Azazel nodded. Seraphim were the highest rank of angels. The number could be count from the fingers on one's hand.

"Now, Kitsune Clan is a fox clan and Kyuubi, the nine-tails, is its special variants. It is the same with Koneko-chan. She is of Nekoshou, a special variant of Nekomata Clan," Azazel continued.

The Tengu frowned the mentioning of Nekomata Clan, which was now on the verge of extinction due to the recent incident. He then whispered into the fallen angel's ear.

Azazel looked at the man and tried to keep a straight face. "He doesn't know?"

"I fear for the person who tells Naruto-dono that," Tengu answered with dread.

"I think we should get out of here as soon as possible," Azazel immediately announced. "Especially you guys." The fallen angel pointed Serafall, Issei, Xenovia and Asia, who was still asleep.

"Does that mean I'm not a pureblood?" Kunou asked the Tengu shyly. She didn't mind either way, but she wanted to know anyway.

"Not exactly, Kunou-hime. You are considered to be a pureblood Kyuubi," the Tengu answered as the fox-lady nodded in agreement. He then turned to the rest in order to elaborate further. "The strength of Kyuubi bloodline is stronger than most of ours. When a parent of mixed blood has a child, the strongest traits of the parent will be passed to the child."

It was how pureblood can be born from generation of inbreeding again. It was called the purification process and highly practiced by some smaller clans. Unfortunately, weaker bloodlines cannot be resurfaced through such process, thus the extinction to the species was assured.

"So black plus white equals lighter black instead of gray?" Issei got slap in the back of head for asking that since it was incredibly racist.

"Everyone regardless of origins can be blessed by the holy light of Micheal," Irina added with great faith as Issei rubbed the back of his head a little. He didn't mean that as he was thinking about something else.

"I'm sure Micheal is proud to have such a devoted follower, but you guys should get out of here before…" Azazel trailed off the last part since it was a sensitive matter.

"We can't leave until Asia-chan gets better," Issei said. Moving the girl right now would be detrimental to her recovery. Kunou looked at the sleeping girl and fidgeting her small fingers a little. She soon called her caretaker to her.

"Would father help if I asked?" Kunou whispered to the fox-lady, standing on tiptoes. The fox-lady took a moment to think about it and nodded. There was a chance that he would.

"But I don't know where he is," Kunou said shyly.

**XxXxX**

In the small wood closed to the palace, a small shrine stood silently. Its double door was closed shut as several tall and heavily muscled Oni stood guards in front. Within the only room it had, amidst the dense incense and fragrant smoke, stood a blond. He was wearing reddish colored yukata with some feline pattern as his normal attire was damaged during the recent battle.

His eyes – one blue and one golden – scanned the only thing in the room; an altar. The place had not changed since his time away, but it appeared to be cleaned regularly. The altar wasn't as grand as he wanted, and there were only a couple of names upon there. They were both important people to him.

"Father, mother, I've returned home," Naruto greeted with a deep bow as Kurama arched a brow in the mindscape. It waited for the blond to carry out the necessary respect before speaking up.

**"Is that my parents?" **Kurama questioned. The strongest bijuu didn't even know what they looked like let alone to know what they were.

Naruto rubbed his cheek a little, feeling the deeper whisker mark on the tip of his thumbs before sighing heavily. "Yes, I supposed they are," he admitted. "I can't help but think they are my parents."

"**I see. You also seem to calm down a lot,**" Kurama pointed out.

"Am I? Don't let it fool you. I'm still pissed off right now. My wife… your wife…" Naruto said before giving a headshake. He was incredibly frustrated. "What do I call her?"

"**Does it matter?**" Kurama said and thought for a moment. "**Who are you?**"

"What the fuck that supposed to mean, furball?"

"**Calm down. I'm just asking who you think you are right now,**" Kurama advised and rephrased his question. "**Are you Naruto or are you me… I mean the old me, whoever he is?**"

"I am… not sure. I feel like they are both part of me, fighting for dominant control," Naruto answered before shaking his head rapidly. "I think I'm Naruto since that part of me is much clearer. The second part felt like a dream; a really vivid one."

"**That is because Naruto's memories are newer,**" Kurama asserted. "**You really mess up big this time, you know. This is what happens when you run into thing you have no clue about!**"

"SHUT UP! You're not helping! How can I get rid of it? I feel like I'm taking your life as my own, but at the same time, it felt like it's my life!" Naruto shouted while becoming increasingly agitated. His whole body tensed up and potent youki was leaking into the surrounding.

The Oni standing outside shivered heavily as they felt the chill running up their spine. They wanted to run away from the danger, but their fear of getting punished afterward currently out weighted their instinctive nature.

"**Calm down, clear your mind!**" Kurama roared as the blond wanted to tear his hair out. He regained control and suppressed his aura once more. "**Naruto, you seemed like you need to let out steam. Come in here. It has been a while since we've done this.**"

**XxXxX**

Kurama puffed and breathed away the dirt before his nostrils. Bruises covered his whole body while the blond was the same. Naruto lay on his back, pressing against the illusionary greenery of his mindscape. It had changed greatly from the dark and damped sewer.

"Thanks. I'm feeling a lot better now," Naruto thanked as the fox slammed one of its tails on top the blond. "Oommpff!"

Kurama chuckled, removing the tails to reveal a smiling Sage. "**When was the last time we fought this seriously? You really wanted to kill me?"**

"As if you could die from something like this, furball," Naruto snorted as Kurama asserted that with pride. "But if I wanted to. I could make you dead for few years."

"**Yeah? Let's see you try, brat!**"

"Heh… maybe some other time, I'm kind of tired right now," Naruto denied the challenge with a chuckle. "Anyway, is there nothing we can do?"

"**We can do a lot of thing,**" Kurama said and looked at the blond. "**Ignore it seems like the simplest solution. But if you prefer, we can erase everything you know, but that would mean you'll no longer be yourself. The reason I don't want to return here even if it was my life because erasing everything I know of the Elemental Nations is equivalent to ending my own existence. Even if this life here was better than what I have, it's still a life of a person that I don't know so why would I care about it at all? Mixing it might be a better choice, but I don't agreed with that either.**"

"Huh? So does that means you never planned on returning?"

"**I suppose so. I'm a different fox, a better one apparently,**" Kurama gloated proudly, making Naruto chuckled. "**Let me tell you this. I think Kurama died the moment he accepted the Sage's offer.**"

Naruto took a few minutes to think about it and nodded in understanding. "Say, Kurama. If you mixed two buckets of paint of different colors together. What do you get in the end?"

"**A new color, irreversible,**" Kurama answered. "**Is that what you think you are right now?**"

"Let me see… Kurama and Naruto shared many of the same experiences and thought process when they were younger. They both want to be acknowledged by all those that around them while keeping an optimistic view on the world they lived in," Naruto said, implying that many of the experience had been mixed and cannot be discerned between the two due to their overwhelming similarities. "Both followed a different path through life. Kurama wanted to power for the protection that it gives while Naruto wanted power for the sake of protecting everyone around him. Both versions just wanted to protect those that they cared about. But I think Kurama had strayed from the path in the end since I could feel his endless frustration inside me."

Kurama narrowed his eyes a bit. "**That's interesting analysis… Alright, how about this. Do you love Yasaka?**"

"W-what? Huh? W-what!? Huh? Wait… W-hat?" Naruto stuttered. "Where did that comes from?"

"**Tsk. The idiot Naruto has surfaced, or is it both this time?**" Kurama muttered lowly. "**Just answer the damn question! It's hard for me to ask that, knowing she was supposed to be my wife.**"

Naruto scratched his cheek, trying to sort out his feeling on the matter. "As Kurama, yeah, I do I guess."

"**No guessing. Are you sure?**"

"Yes."

"**Liar, you are incapable of love.**"

"SHUT UP! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT IS!? I MISSED HER ALRIGHT! I wanted to see her… hold her… FUCKING FURBALL!"

"**Heh, if that is the case then I don't think he has strayed from his ultimate goal,**" Kurama asserted thoughtfully. "**If he did, then you wouldn't be so upset at people making fun of Yasaka. You wouldn't be so furious at your wife's apparent betrayal. That takes some devotions on Kurama's part. Damn, the me I never knew is awesome."**

"Stupid furball," Naruto grumbled as he rubbed his temple in annoyance while walking around the landscape. He understood it clearly as the original Kurama didn't have hidden potential or anyone to help him like Naruto did. Kurama had to work very hard to get where he was. The nature of his mixed blood had hindered his progress greatly, but he never blamed it. His mother used her remaining life to make sure he was born in the world. It was hard to hate someone like that, and that was his first and only memory of her. In the end, it seemed like natural talent and lineage still triumphed over hard work as his wife exceeded him in power. He was envious of her, but also held her in high regard. Eventually, he did come to term with his emotions and reciprocated her feeling. For a time at least, they were happy.

"**Another thing I want to know, why did you stop the bijuudama?" **Kurama asked. Naruto could survive something like that point blank even if it messed up his body badly. "**It's not because you didn't want to destroy the palace did you?"**

"You already knew why so stop asking." Naruto dodged the question. He wasn't sure if Kunou was his or not, but it seemed more likely from her name. The girl name was Ku-nou, which was actually modeled after his own name, Ku-rama, given by his mother since his dad wasn't home then. "She's probably is my daughter."

Kurama chuckled before doing a roaring laughter. "**So even if you didn't want a family, you got one anyway. How did that work out?**"

"SHUT UP! It's not confirmed until I hear her say it," Naruto shouted loudly as his power flared up.

_Are you saying you will believe everything she's going to say? How you know she won't lie to you if the little kit isn't yours?_ Kurama thought. "**Calm down. We need to fix that anger issue of yours. You might do something stupid soon. Well… not as stupid as Naruto.**"

"Hey! You just insulted both parts of me!"

"**I call how I see it, now SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN**!" Kurama roared angrily as Naruto flinched. "**See, I can do it too.**"

"Yeah…" Naruto mumbled and seated.

"**I think you are having mood swing because you are unconsciously rejecting part of yourself, either Kurama or Naruto, or a bit of both,**" Kurama pointed out. "**That would be self-destructive in the end since like you said, you two are mixed. Refusing one means refusing the others. Calm yourself and use this time to search your inner self."**

"Hmmm… You are awfully okay about all of this."

**"Why should I not be? It's not like I have any recollection of having it in the first place. I know who I am! I'm the most powerful monster in the Elemental Nations and here as well. AHAHAHA! Wait, are Youkai considered as monsters?"**

"To most people, and even if we're not, the most feared creature in this place is the Great Red," Naruto pointed out from his memory. Everyone knew who the Great Red was.

"**Great Red? What kind of stupid name is that?**"

"Well, it big and red so it's a Great Red," Naruto answered. "It's called the Apocalypse Dragon because it has the ability to bring forth the end of the world, or so people say. No one really knows for sure."

Kurama narrowed his eyes a little. "**And what do they call me?**"

"The Beast of Cataclysm," Naruto answered dryly. Within him were the Chakra of the tail-beasts, and with it Kurama could entered Juubi mode – gaining another tail – for a short while. But unlike the Juubi he fought, Kurama won't be a mindless beast bent on destroying everything, but he was a still regard as a cataclysm event. "I'm not going to let you fight with that much power, and besides, Great Red rarely cares about anything. If it tried to destroy the world, I will get rid of it so you don't have to do anything."

"**Tsk. No fun at all,**" Kurama snorted. "**I will go back to sleep then since this is boring.**"

Naruto nodded and began his meditation. It was only a few minutes before he heard noise from the outside world.

"Let me through you lowly Oni!"

"Umm master tells us… ummm to not let anyone in. We guard here?"

"If you don't let me in right now, I'm going to punish you!"

"Umm no one in, we guard here umkay, fox girl."

"F-fox girl? Do you know who I am!?"

"Kunou-hime, please don't shout. This place is important and sacred to Naruto-dono so we should wait out here."

"But Kunou wants to see Otou-sama."

"Otou-sama… not here… only master inside," the oni replied while scratching his head.

"**Why you using them as guards? They're lacking in the upper department,**" Kurama asked, opening one eyes to see the meditating Sage.

"That is because they don't be smart and twist my order around to suit their interest, and even if they are not smart, they make up for it in sheer raw power," Naruto answered while trying to concentrate. But after some more yelling, screaming, and demanding by Kunou outside, he decided to leave his mindscape to deal with the matter.

"Let them in," Naruto ordered from inside the shrine as the guards complied.

"Otou-sama," Kunou called after the Tengu opened the door to allow them in. The lady-fox was behind them, but she stayed outside while still remained in view.

"What is it?" Naruto eyed the golden-haired child.

They were strong and unflinching eyes of a natural predator. It wasn't the same eyes of the person patted her on the head. This one seemed to devoid of any emotions. Calming, yet frightening. Her confidence immediately wavered under its gaze.

"Ummm…I… Kunou wants... Otou-sama…" Kunou muttered. She fidgeted her fingers a little as she tried to gather the confidence she had a moment ago.

After a while, Naruto turned his head to face the Tengu. "Have they arrived yet?"

"Yes, Naruto-dono. They are waiting for you," the Tengu answered with a light nod.

Naruto was going to let them wait a little while to see which one would dare to challenge him. But since Kunou interrupted his meditation, he might as well go to the meeting. Naruto got up and began walking out the door, passing the small girl as she looked up at him.

"Otou-sama?" She mumbled.

"Be sure of what you wanted and speak your mind freely. I don't want to see such a poor display from you again," Naruto said almost impassively and exited the small shrine. "Take her back to her room."

"Yes, Naruto-sama," the fox-lady said.

"You are the leader of your clan so you should also be there," Naruto said, pointing at the Tengu before disappeared in a burst of flames. The Tengu took off after the display of fox fire teleportation.

"Shall we go, Kunou-hime," the fox-lady asked as the girl's face saddened.

**XxXxX**

"I apologized for my tardiness, so please forgive me," Naruto said and had a brief glance at the clan's leader situated in two rows, one on each side of him. Not every clan leaders came as he expected. Even if they were summoned by Yasaka-hime, they still wouldn't come. But the turnout was better than he had anticipated. Furthermore, there was no one at the opposite end of his position in order to challenge him directly.

"There is nothing to forgive, Kurama-dono. Ah no, Naruto-dono. Maelstrom, it's a fitting name. May I be the first to say that we are glad that you have returned safe and sound. We all hoped your journey was a successful one," the hunched back Kappa said.

"Yes, it was," Naruto answered with a smile. "And I believed it was worth it." He didn't need to explain further as they all heard about the fight in the palace earlier today. It wasn't what he had planned, but he'd turned it into a display of his newfound power.

"Yes, yes, we all glad you are back. Why were we summoned? Doesn't the Kitsune Clan do whatever the hell they pleased without asking our opinion?" The flaming head – Kechibi – asked. "What was it? That little girl took a bunch of us and attacks some random devils on the street. Are we thugs now?"

"Kunou-hime, at the time, had panicked and was fanatically searching for where her mother went. She found some visiting devils and thought they have taken Yasaka-hime," the old Tengu replied. "It was all a big misunderstanding."

"… As if some random devils could have captured Yasaka. If that was the case, she has grown weak and deserved that," the flaming head retorted. "Her spoiled child of her didn't seem to make a good leader either."

"Hmph. Even as a temporary leader, she should not make that kind of mistake," A huge bold man with bead around his neck called out. Spark could be seen on his body as he had suppressed the true nature of a Raijuu – the thunder beast. "I heard she had to bow her head to apologize. What a disgrace."

"There is no need to criticize Kunou-chan. She's still young and inexperienced. She did not consult us before running off to find her mother. It is expected of a child who was abandoned," a woman with silky and smooth hair said. A devious smile formed on her perfect face. She was beautiful, but every male in the room tried to avert their eyes from her.

Naruto stared at the Jorogumo – spider youkai – without blinking before leering to the other side of the room to see more than half of them remained silent.

"That's what I've said!" the flaming head called out again. "Some brat dared to order me around! Acting all high and mighty without a shred of power to show for it!"

"Did I hear that Kunou-chan has requested help from outsider to find Yasaka-hime. I feel so unwanted right now, why do I even bother coming here? Oh that's right, Kurama-dono had returned and much manlier than before," the woman with a slit eyes teased. Every now and then her snake-like tongue showed itself.

For obvious reason, Naruto wanted to punch the hebi-onna light out. He had enough control to stop himself from doing that, however.

"What a disgrace," the Raijuu roared. "Asking for outsider help without thinking through? How about we all go bowed our head to the vampires or the werewolf and begged them for help since we are too incompetent to solve our own problem! Fucking mutt!"

"What was that? Are you calling her a mutt?" A woman questioned showing her canine teeth and feral nature. Her hands shifted and grew fur becoming razor sharp claws and readying to lurch at him.

"I mean simpleton, you bitch," the Raijuu snorted, insulting the Inugami with literal meaning this time since she didn't understand the slang. The bold man had to evade a powerful slash that cut through the air. She licked the blood on her furry claw, and she was about to follow up, but she couldn't.

Everyone else immediately tensed up as deadly aura filled the room, emanating from the blond-haired man with reddish slit eyes. He looked at the youkai that got out of her seat to attack another while everyone looked down at the floor in front of them.

**"Sit down!"**

She grabbed her outstretched hand as it was shaking uncontrollably form the immersed youki from their apparent new leader. Under the menacing eyes, she returned back to her seat.

**"I do not expect you to follow my daughter blindly. But remembered this, Kunou is your future leader and you will treat her with respect as you will show me. She is young, but she will learn and it is your job to give her guidance, not sitting here criticizing her,"** Naruto said in a deep and dreadful tone of voice. "**I didn't call you here to discuss my daughter. I want to hear your opinion about my wife, who is still your leader. You know she has been missing for a day now.**"

Naruto calmed down after that, allowing the Youkai to recover.

"It is a disgrace to be capture in the first place," the bald man said and glanced at the blond. "But they probably ambushed her so it was an unfair fight. I will do whatever you decided, Naruto-sama."

"If the bald head say something like that, I suppose I don't mind having her back. She is your wife and should be by your side, Naruto-sama," the Inugami replied, still clenching her hand to stop it from shaking.

"I don't care either way. Having Yasaka back or not did not seem to matter now that Naruto-sama is here," the flaming head called out. Several of them nodded in agreement.

"Having more than one full tailed kyuubi might cause future succession problem, Naruto-dono. Please think clearly about this," the Kappa said, hinting something ominous while being all humbled.

A few more gave their opinion on the matter while Naruto had a thoughtful expression. Some shouting and insults were flying back and forth across the room soon afterward as they began to disagree with each other.

"But leader-san, do you want her to return?" the ghostly translucent creature – Jikininki – asked, licking its lips a little. "Is it not better if she's dead? I wondered what her flesh tasted like. Did I say that out loud?"

The shouting escalated before Naruto exhaled and slammed his fist down to return silent back into the room. "Whether I want her back or not does not matter! It's the principle! If they can kidnap your leader with impunity, what makes you think they would stop? I will show culprit that they cannot just walk in here, our capital, and take one of us without any reprisal!"

* * *

**Author Note:**

Nothing much to say so I'll see you guys next time (whenever I feel like it). This story's chapters are longer than standard one from other stories. I might need to trim it down a little.


	5. Self-Reflection (4)

**Youkai no Bikou (Naruto x DXD)**

**Disclaimer: **This story is fiction. All the characters, names and places belong to their respective owners.

* * *

**=[Self Reflection]=  
4**

How troublesome. Such a remark was something that Shikamaru Nara, one the smartest person he ever had the pleasure of befriending, would say whenever there was an opportunity.

"How troublesome," Naruto repeated the thought on his mind as he strolled at a leisure pace along the furnished and ornamented hallway of the palace.

The time he'd spent debating with the leader of other clans on the matter of his wife was troublesome and excruciating pointless. It wasn't entirely a waste of time to call such a meeting as it'd demonstrated clearly his social and political power to his satisfaction. With that firmly stated, the recent meeting was exceedingly disappointing and frustrating to say the least.

Even with more than a decade had passed, the political landscape remained relatively unchanged. He knew from the first glance that each and every one of the clan leaders had their own hidden agenda regardless of what they might say during the meeting. They were like a tall strand of grass in an open field, swaying fully in whichever direction that the incoming gentle breeze came from.

Gentle breeze was not the word to use in his case, however. Unlike Yasaka, he was a raging typhoon that could flatten and grind them all to dust with little effort. He actually had to restrain himself from killing several of them outright as a bloody example for belittling his abducted wife when Kunou became an off limit topic.

"I agreed. It is troublesome, Naruto-dono," the old Tengu acknowledged wholly while accompanying him down the corridor from the side. The old man was probably the only person who was thoughtful and sincere throughout the meeting while every clan's leader constantly dwelled into meaningless and violent bickering. "Yasaka-hime has to deal with them every single day, but I must say that today was different. They usually do not agree on anything."

Naruto simply leered at the old mountain youkai from the corner of his eyes. He blinked once and took a full second to ponder inwardly why he never got the long time servant's actual name. The Tengu was old when he and Yasaka were children decades ago, and he was already old when Kyoto was the imperial capital where the blessed emperor of Japan resided centuries ago.

How many generations did such a person had served?

"Karasu, are you implying something?" Naruto asked and stopped by the wide window to examine the busy bodies outside. They were working on rebuilding the central building that he and a few unwanted guests had trashed several hours ago.

Speaking of unwanted guest, that highly optimistic girl with twin-tailed black hair was trying to gain an audience with him. He had told her to go away quite aggressively, but she remained persistent.

"I do not imply anything, Naruto-dono," Karasu replied. Karasu was not his actual name, but it was close enough since his race was called Karasu Tengu.

"You do not imply anything huh," Naruto responded with a frown. "I suppose what you meant to say is dealing with other clans was not the only troublesome task she has to do daily, and yet she still has the time to see me each day without fail. But why then, I only give her more headaches?"

"My deepest apology, Naruto-dono, I honestly do not imply anything of sort," Karasu asserted hastily with a sweat drop. Some very alarming memories from the distant past flashed in his mind, reminding him that the blond was not stupid in any sense.

Letting out a deep sigh, Naruto turned away from the window and continued down the hall towards his destination. "No one… not even a small formal notice from the Nekomata clan came. It has been a while since I last talked to them, not counting the years I've been gone. I suppose they are still furious at me for not accepting their proposal."

It was not a question, but Karasu could see the deep yearning along with bearing sadness in those blue and golden eyes. Karasu was there when Naruto – or Kurama then – choose to stay with Yasaka in Kyoto against the request of Nekomata elders during their migration, effectively abandoning the prestige and lineage that his heritage and bloodline could bring to the clan. Things might have played out differently if he went with **_Kurohime_**, the black princess, instead.

Karasu gave a humble bow out of deep remorse. "With all respect, those from the Nekomata clan cannot be contact through normal means at the moment."

"Not one can be contacted?" Naruto questioned. He remembered there were a few still living in inner city Kyoto before he went with the Sage of the Sixth Paths to the Elemental Nation. Even only a handful in numbers, they were still considered as a clan nonetheless. "Did all of them migrate to Tokyo?"

Karasu remained silent as he could hear the phantom droplet of waters slamming all its might against the cold hard stone. A dark gripping memory that he wanted to forget had resurfaced in his mind once more. He knew it would continue to haunt him endlessly.

_"Please understand that Kurama-dono will not see you no matter how long you waited," Karasu told the black-haired teenager before the gate into the palace. _

_She had been kneeling at the same spot for more than couple of days even through the pouring and chilling rain. Her golden eyes had long lost its shine while her face drenched in liquids; tears from the heaven and her own had mixed._

_She shook her head rapidly, spraying the liquid outwards. "Why? It doesn't make any sense. Why won't Kura-nii come out? He promised he will always be there for me no matter what! No matter what… he promised. Please… if he won't come out, then at least he should see his flesh and blood!"_

_"Flesh and blood!? Please, Kuroka-sama. This is not a joking matter," Karasu said with alarm. "What you mean by that?"_

_"Tell Kuro-nii that Shirone will be executed if he won't help. His… daughter will be executed. Please help me… please… I don't care what happen to me, but at least he should save his daughter. She is the last of pure bloodline, please help me," Kuroka beseeched desperately while pulling against the old man's robe._

_Karasu pursed his lips when he heard about Shirone's name. The white-haired girl was a taboo subject around the palace ever since she was born._

_"Even if I wanted to help, Kurama-dono won't see you. He cannot see you right now no matter how long you waited," Karasu clarified. "He has been missing from the capital for several years now. No one knows where he went. Yasaka-hime believed he had run off to Tokyo to see Kurohime, but that seems unlikely the case if you're here requesting to see him."_

_"No… that can't be… you're lying. Please tell me you're lying," Kuroka begged, shaking her head rapidly, refusing to believe._

_"I am telling the truth, Kuroka-sama. That is why you won't be able to see him no matter how long you waited here," Karasu answered._

_She lost her grip on the robe, letting her hands fall on the ground. "No, I don't believe you. Yasaka must stop him from coming out… why is she still upset with my mother? Why is she still holding a grudge after all these years? Kuro-nii left me and my mother for her. She has won, but she still not satisfies!?"_

_Before Karasu could calm down the girl, her golden eyes sharpened as the damped stone cracked under her rapidly increasing strength. She glared up at the palace beyond the closed gate as anger filled her being._

_"KURAMA! IF YOU DON'T COME OUT! I WILL DESTROY THIS PLACE!" She roared furiously as she dashed passed the shocked Tengu and into the palace's ground by breaking through the gate. For someone so young, Kuroka was releasing far more power than most well-trained youkai under the art of Senjutsu._

_"Stop! You can't barge in like –_

_He was unable to conclude his warning as Kuroka was sent flying backward and crashed into the soaking earth some distant away. Without a second thought, he flew towards the girl as she pulled herself upright shakily with heavy and ragged panting. He noticed the bloods began to soak her dirty attire from somewhere underneath and at multiple places. It must have been from recent wounds._

_He shook his head disapprovingly. "Even if you're not injured, barging into the palace like that will only get yourself killed, Kuroka-sama."_

_"I don't care! I have to see Kurama… Kura-nii," Kuroka called out while looking at the menacing gate guardians. The creatures were made of pure flames with multiple tendrils swaying ominously behind them. Their fiery form did not distort even the slightest even standing in a puddle of water._

_"Please listen to me. Even if you somehow manage to turn the palace upside down, Kurama-dono is not inside," Karasu asserted._

_"No… you're lying. I must see him. There's no time left," Kuroka sobbed heartedly. She didn't want to come here, but she had tried everything she could to save her sister and failed. "Please Kura-nii… why won't you see me?"_

_"He won't come out no matter how much you call him," a third person beyond the gate responded. With the cue, the flaming beasts dissipated and vanished from view, revealing a golden hair woman with matching pair of golden eyes behind them. In turn, a miniature version of her was peaking behind her legs curiously._

_"Yasaka-hime," Karasu acknowledged and flew to the side of his master. He looked at the small child and smiled warmly. "Kunou-hime. Please come with me."_

_"But, Kunou wants to stay here with mother," Kunou refused while shaking her head cutely. She then blinked and tilted her head while examining Kuroka. "She looks familiar… I have seen her somewhere before… oh I remember. She was in one of the rooms! There was a really big portrait of her hanging on the wall."_

_Letting out a reflexive gasp, Kunou covered her mouth with both hands adorably and stared up at her mother._

_"Kunou," Yasaka said with a darkened expression. "I've told you that room is off limit. Why do you keep disobeying me?"_

_"Kunou is sorry. Kunou promised Kunou won't enter there again," Kunou apologized while looking down at the ground in shame._

_"Promises," Yasaka muttered and nudged her daughter towards the Tengu. "Do not mention the portrait ever again. Do you understand?"_

_"… yes, mother," Kunou said, nodding._

Once Karasu took Kunou back into the palace, Yasaka had narrowed the distant between her and Kuroka in a single step. What exactly went on between them, he did not know since he wasn't there personally. He only knew Kuroka left the inner capital soon afterward.

Unthinkable tragedy struck a few days afterward, where the already declining Nekomata across the country was driven to the brink of extinction by the devils. Retribution as they had called it while Kuroka was never heard from again.

Letting out a deep sigh, he was wise enough to understand such secret could not be buried forever. One day, it will come to light, but right now, he didn't want to do anything that could jeopardize the upmost safety of Yasaka. "Their total population has sharply decreased in the recent years with only a handful remains. Where those are right now is a mystery."

"Only a handful remains." Naruto frowned, knowing and fearing that Nekomata would be extinct one day soon. "My mother forsakes her own obligation and eloped with my father against all the objections from each of their clans. It was stupid to do something like that out of impulse, but I believed she was happy in the end."

"It's funny that I did the same even though she took me in when I had nowhere to go." Inhaling deeply, Naruto pondered if the choices he made back then were the right choice. "I really hope she will forgive me one day."

"I believed Kurohime has already forgiven you, Naruto-dono," Karasu asserted, remembering the black-haired and golden eyes princess of the Nekomata that was illustrated on a wall portrait that he had to take down. He swallowed the guilt for not revealing that Kurohime had passed away years before Kurama's disappearance. It was rumored to be at the same time that Shirone was born, which led many to speculate she'd died during labor.

"Forgive an old man's rambling, but what is done is done, Naruto-dono," Karasu advised. "Perhaps one should look ahead to the future and stop making any more irreversible mistake."

"Irreversible mistake… I am working on it, so stop dropping hint already," Naruto responded as he approached the massive double doors. Two dark blue-haired females with emerald eyes, dressed in very revealing clothing that accent their beautiful figure while revealing much of their busty chest, stood outside the chamber. They might as well be twins due to their features and similarity.

Naruto was not in the mood for sexual favor. "I am incredibly exhausted so unless it is a matter of most important, leave it to tomorrow."

"But, Naruto-sama, we are here to –

Naruto narrowed his eyes, causing the air to electrified, forcing them to flinch in fear. "I don't care who puts you two up to this. When you return back there, tell your master that I will only sent your pretty head back next time. Do you understand?"

"Yes… we understand, Naruto-sama," they both said in visible fright. With a simple wave of his hand to dismiss them, both of the buxom girls allowed to leave hastily.

Karasu was amused at their retreat before forming a smirk. "That will not be the last of them, Naruto-dono. I believed there will be more from each clan, wishing to attend you throughout the night. What should I do with them?"

"Sent them back in any way you can," Naruto growled.

"That will be difficult as some of them have the ability to phrase through walls," Karasu pointed out.

"Then tell them that if for whatever reason I find anyone else in my room during the night, I will consider they are assassins and will be disposed of," Naruto retorted darkly.

"I believed that knowledge will do it," Karasu said with a nod. "If Yasaka-hime was here, her presence alone would make them think twice before trying something like that this."

"You do know you sounded like a broken record, keep reminding me of the same thing over and over again," Naruto said with annoyance. He pushed open the door to the chamber and took a few steps inside. "Your loyalty to Yasaka is unquestionable, but what about your loyalty to me."

Naruto cocked his head back at the old Tengu. "Is she really mine?"

"Yes," Karasu answered after a brief pause. "Kunou-hime is –

"There is no need to elaborate further," Naruto interjected and closed the door fully behind him. "The damn Tengu is hiding something."

He let out a sigh and took a minute to examine the interior of the room, realizing his personal chamber had changed over the years. The furniture had been shifted around the room with a few had been replaced. Most of the paintings and portraits along the walls were missing entirely. He quickly made a mental note to find out where they were in the morning as the illustration of his beautiful mother was among them.

He approached the end of the room and dropped flatly back on the bed, feeling the soft fabric of the sheets beneath his fingers. It was just like he remembered as the bedding had never been changed. It felt comfortable and nostalgic as the nights he spent sleeping alone in this room had increased with each passing years.

"This is a bit disappointing," a voice in his mindscape called out after giving a prolong yawn. "I thought the room would be bigger or more luxurious. You're being the leader of an entire region and all."

"This is just a personal chamber I used from time to time so I like to keep it simple and without all the pointless extravagant," Naruto responded while rubbing his eyes wearily. "The luxurious chamber that you're looking for is further down the hall."

"Why would I be looking for it," Kurama snorted. "The mindscape is far more comfortable and relaxing than anything existed outside, and I can change it to whatever I like."

"Using my mindscape as your personal playground," Naruto muttered lowly. "I'm going to kick you out of it one day."

"Huh? It's not like I'm living here for free," Kurama defended. "I always pay my rent and kept the place tidy and clean. Without me, it's going to be a dump like the sewer again, rotting your brain."

Naruto rolled his eyes since most of what it had said was true enough. Kurama did pay rent in a sense for the usage of his mindscape, and having someone to confide in was always nice. "Are you not tired? We just expended an enormous amount of chakra creating a couple millions of clones."

"Nah, I'm perfectly fine. While you were talking with your underlings about stupid boring stuff, I took a long nap and recovered much of my powers back," Kurama said. "You, on the other hand, still needed to recuperate. Having a real physical body required such high maintenance."

"Well, I'm terribly sorry for being alive and not an ageless monster of destruction like you," Naruto jested. "If you don't mind, I'm going to take a good night rest now. When I'm in deep sleep, don't just take my body out for a joyride for no reason. I fucking hate it when I get blamed for some stupid shits I have no knowledge of."

"Tsk… that was only one time to test if it was actually possible to do so!" Kurama growled.

"It's twice," Naruto corrected.

"What? Twice? Bullshit, when did… ohhhh… Alright, that was my bad. I thought someone was trying to kill you. Since you're such a heavy sleeper and didn't notice, I had to take control."

"Well, you thought wrong, idiot. At least check who it was before sending her flying across the village and destroying half of my room in the process."

"… Hey! I distinctively remembered apologizing for that mishap," Kurama retorted in annoyance. "And it wasn't my fault entirely. It's just because everyone grown so damn weak. The only person that's worth something back in the Elemental Nation is the blasted Uchiha, and it's kind of depressing for me to say that."

Naruto didn't reply to the fox's comment since it was simply stating fact. No one in the Elemental Nation could match his and Sasuke's power. He then closed his eyes and entered a much needed and blissful sleep. It wasn't a dreamless sleep, however. The plethora of suppressed memories in his mind began to unraveled.

_"There is no need for you to do that, especially with only the two of us here," Yasaka advised as she helped him off the ground. She was wearing a milky white kimono with silver linings and animalistic patterns. Her vibrant golden hair was elaborately braided without obscuring her perfectly framed face as starling golden eyes gazed deeply into his eyes, effectively locking them in place and stopping them from wandering about._

_He loved her more dearly than he had the courage to admit, and he knew in the moment that he did not make the wrong choice of staying in Kyoto with her. Perhaps, the moment he laid his eyes upon her when they were children, he was charmed. He admitted she was beautiful then, and on their wedding night, she was indescribably stunning._

_"Yasaka-hime," he began softly, slowly pronouncing each syllable, but she interrupted him by pressing her index finger lightly upon his lips._

_"Please don't call me that," Yasaka requested, removing her finger from his lips. "Such title is for those that serve me. You are not my servant. You are my husband. From this moment onward and for the rest of my days, I am your wife and you're my equal."_

_"Yasaka-chan," he corrected with a softer tone of voice._

_A smile formed upon her face, earning one from him in reciprocation. "Yes. I want you to call me that as you always have."_

_"Yasaka-chan," he repeated, finding his hands wrapped firmly around hers. "Ya-sa-ka-chan."_

_He continued to recite her name, each subsequent one slower and softer than the previous, as she moved backward, navigating him along the emptied corridor surrounded with semi-transparent white banners made of fine silk. Their movements disturbed the calming air of the solaced night, playfully swaying the banners and gently flicking the candle lights, thus making their shadows danced along the reflective waxed floor._

_Spinning and twirling around each other while passing through the opened double door and into their awaiting chamber. As the only entrance to the room closed fully behind them, they landed upon the soft and comfy bed with him on top, causing more than a few small deep crimson thin sheets to stream down from the side like flowing water._

_Dead silent permeated the room as the two newly wed took the time to etch every little detail into their memory. Everything around them felt like a dream. It was so surreal that he had to pinch himself several to make sure he was not dreaming. _

_She giggled and helped wake him up by pulling hard against his whiskered cheeks on both side. "Do you think it's a dream?"_

_"If it is then I don't want to wake up," he answered as she slowly let his cheeks go before placing both of her palms flatly against them. She then massaged it gently, spreading the red tints she just made slowly across his cheeks._

_"Yasaka-chan," he called her name once more. _

_Her keen ears captured the extremely soft tone of his voice to the point of lustful moaning, making her blushed profusely. She tried not to avert her eyes as she slid her hands off his face, down his neck, to his chest and finally under the black and white yukata kimono he had on._

_Before his chest was fully exposed, she pushed him to the side and rolled on top of him. With one swift motion of her slender hand behind her head, she took out the jaded and jeweled encrusted hairpin that supported the braiding of her golden hair and bangs, allowing them to freely flow down her back and her face like waterfall respectively._

_His strong hands were also busy as they examined the exquisite silky ribbons that were tightly wrapped around her waist. Pulling them from each other slowly and unbinding them, her creamy white kimono began to loosen, allowing her to breathe much more comfortably. He could not hide his surprise when he realized the traditional bridal kimono was not very comfortable to be in. Considering her well-endowed figure, which was in full view as the kimono only hanged loosing around her frame, it was a given._

_"Thank you, I will return the favor," she whispered into his ears as her enormous breasts pressed against his chest. He could feel their incredibly softness and elasticity against his skin to the point that he shivered in delight. Their constantly reshaping upon contact like a pair of ultimate bouncy jellies with every slight movement only served to further amplify his overwhelming arousal. Before he knew it, his golden eyes narrowed into crimson slits as his whisker markings shifted into a darker and sharper version of itself._

_She giggled when noticed the changes in his appearance before nibbling on his ears and neck, driving his mating instinct even higher._

_"Ah, Yasaka-chan," he moaned instinctively. His chest heaved while he expelled steamy breath with each heavy pant. His hands clenched tightly against the sheets beneath him, trying his very best to restrain the primal nature within as it wanted to take her there and then. He let out a breath of relief when she tilted her head back. He wanted to take the initiative, but she was quicker. "Wait… Stop! Ah!"_

_In one ravenous gulp she took a more than six inches into her mouth and began bobbing her head back and forth on his shaft with her tongue swirling around his cock. He felt his eyes cross as her hands also began assaulting him, with one pumping the remaining inches from the base furiously while gently toying with his twin jewels with the other._

_His eyes rolled back as he felt the warmness and wetness of her orifice enveloping his hard rod with the crown nudging the back of her constricting throat. She was volunteering deep throating him, much to his surprise. "Where did you learn this…?" He called out in a shrilling voice as she looked up at him, her golden eyes glinting in the diming light of the chamber. She pulled her head back until the crown finally rolled across her tongue where she proceed to latch it onto the tip and tasted the oozing pre cum of a man for the first time._

_Learning things from the female servants were different from experiencing it herself. She blinked several times, swirling her tongue around the engorged gland experimentally before allowing it fully out of her mouth with a loud pop._

_"It's a secret," Yasaka teased and rolled her tongue along his length from the base upward._

_He frowned inwardly as her eyes were still natural golden colors instead of crimson red. He knew from experience that once their race in heat, they became extremely aggressive and it was most likely the common trigger. The reason why there was no one around the chamber, tending their needs was because they would try to try to attack anyone that interrupted their mating ritual for whatever reason._

_Once her tongue reached the tip, his hands gripped the sides of her head. Before she could response, he pushed the shaft into her mouth, forcing her to take all but the final inch of his cock._

_Her eyes flashed crimson as she gagged on reflex. A couple second passed, he loosened his grips around her head, allowing her to jerk backward instinctively. Before she could fully retreat from his shaft to breath, he slammed it back into her throat almost instantly, making her screamed in shock. Her chocked voice caused her throat to vibrate intensely, giving him an overwhelming experience._

_"Ah! That feels really incredible, Yasaka-chan," he moaned lustfully as he held her head there while she figured out how to breathe. Slowly moving her back before slamming her face into his trimmed golden bush again, he was determined to remain as long as possible inside the greatness that was her tightening throat, and calling her name while face fucking her only served to arouse her more._

_He didn't even realize her eyes fully shifted to crimson red with slit since his own primal instinct had taken over. He continued to slam her throat with reckless abandonment before grunting savagely as he couldn't hold it in any longer. With one final hard and deep thrust all the way down her throat, he began unloading his boiling white lava from his bulging balls down to her stomach._

_Her eyes went wide as the hot cum spurting down her throat like a raging fire hose, coating the inner wall in slimy and steamy batter. On reflex, she pushed him backward with as much strength as she could mustered. As the spraying rod was pulled out of the confine of her throat, sliding across her tongue, it smeared the thick cream over her taste bud in rapid strong burst. He tried to stop being pushed out fully and fought against her strength, thus his crown remained firmly in her orifice. _

_She was forced to gulp down hastily once her mouth was filled with the steamy stuff. It was to the point that she couldn't swallow anymore and the thick cream began to leak out of her mouth before turning into a full out flooding. He finally pulled out and shot rope after rope of sticky whiteness, painting her face and golden hair. There was so much that it slowly dripped and oozed down onto her chest, as she coughed up more onto her breasts and thighs._

_"Oh shit," he muttered as his eyes shifted slightly to the natural golden color due to the pleasurable release. "I got carried away."_

_Yasaka slid her hands over her chest and licked the milky cream off them like a starving vixen, savoring the taste and consistency. Her eyes became deeper shade of red as her canines elongated, causing him to unconsciously backed away. Nine golden tails materialized behind her before they wrapped around him like some sort of prey. "Where are you going?"_

_"Please be gentle," he beseeched. "AHHHH!"_

Naruto snapped open his eyes as he felt phantom pain shooting over his body. Truth be told, their sex life was mostly Yasaka raping him even when he said he wasn't in the mood. More than one occasion, he was forcibly dragged back into their bedroom against his will.

"You were truly beautiful. No, you are beautiful, Yasaka-chan," Naruto admitted. "You've said we were supposed to be equal. When did everything become so wrong? When did we drift so –

He realized something was pressing against his lower chest under the blanket. He lifted the sheet up to see what it was before frowning. "When did she sneak in here?"

"Hmmm… about an hour after you doze off," Kurama answered before smirking. "Well? Aren't you going to carry out your threat?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the suggestion. He gently slid the blond-haired girl off of his chest so he could go find another room down the hall, but her small hand pulled against the edge of his yukata, not letting him go.

"O…tou-sama," Kunou mumbled hazily in her sleep as he tried to remove her hand slowly, one finger at a time.

"How troublesome," Naruto said with a sigh before dropping back on the bed to get some sleep. "I will deal with you in the morning, Musume."

* * *

**Author Note:**

Musume means "my daughter" if you want to know.

People asked me to add more girls to harem. Technically, there are actually four heroines in this story, making up four major arcs of the storyline. Reaching those arc in good time might be a challenge since I'm on and off with my stories. Maybe it's due to lack of motivation, but whatever. The heroines are Yasaka (main), Kuroka, Rossweisse and Serafall. The stories can end at any arc. If it ends too soon, then it just NarutoxYasaka. I will try to get to Kuroka since her story is kind of interesting, plus her arc deals with the massacre of Nekomata and the invasion of the underworld. There is also an arc somewhere down the line that deals with Naruto: The Last. Maybe I will just skip that one and let Sasuke deals with it?

Also, I'm looking for a BETA to this story!


	6. Self-Reflection (5)

**Youkai no Bikou (Naruto x DXD)**

**Disclaimer: **This story is fiction. All the characters, names and places belong to their respective owners.

Sorry to fans that I'd missed an update for this story last week. This is because I was waiting for the review counts to reach a certain level. If it not adequate, I'll just skip the story over and go do something else. A few times like that in a row (probably a fortnight's worth), the updates will just pause for a few months.

* * *

**=[Self Reflection]=  
5**

An absolute calmed mind was required for Senjutsu.

"There's no way I need a couple more centuries, damn it," growled the blond-haired man with a pair of animalistic ears. His irritation snapped him out of the meditated state and effectively ended his training session for the day. Eight elongated golden tails flickered from side to side behind him before each of them rapidly shrank and vanished entirely from view.

Slowly receding the eyelids, he unveiled a pair of golden eyes, and with them, he gave a detailed scan around the empty and silent chamber before letting out a prolong sigh. He contemplated as the taunting voice of an old hag echoed in the dark corner of his mind. He'd tried to forget – erase – the event from a few months back, but what she'd said bothered him more than he would admit. Even if he was to train taxingly every single waking moment, he would not be able to reach the pinnacle of his power. He would not be able to gain the last tail and access to the full potential of his race.

As exceptional as his growth was, the limitation of his bloodline had prevented him from doing so. It was an obstacle that even hard work could not triumph over. There existed a very small chance to break the barrier as there was always an exception to every rule, however. Unfortunately, it would likely take several centuries on his part.

"You must be purified," the old priestess – long passed her prime – had suggested adamantly at the end of their conversation.

In his blind anger, he attempted to grapple her. That was a grave mistake. Any form of an assault against one of the most revered elders was greatly frowned upon. He immediately got kicked out of the sacred temple and was then forcibly evicted from the hallowed ground; a place where his kind first drawled in their breath. If it wasn't for his thoughtful wife speaking and apologizing on his behalf, he would have been banned from the sacred temple for the remainder of his life. He was still banned for a half a year though.

The unnatural purification process she implied was commonly known on the street as the cleansing process. It was to differentiate from the normal method of bringing forth a pureblood through mixed bloods after a few generations. The excruciating procedure was used to purge whatever impurities a Youkai may had within their makeup. In other word, he would have to purge any form of weaknesses existed in his bloodline as if they were some kind of contaminations.

He understood what the Kitsune Elders wanted of him, but the gift that his mother had left in him was not a form of a weakness. He swore he would show each of them the error of their ways. Sadly, it was easier said than done. He sighed deeply while suppressing the growing frustration and annoyance.

"I wonder how she did it," he questioned, referring to his beautiful wife, who had a total of nine.

With his kind – the Kyuubi – the overall power they could potentially achieve doubled with the emergence of each new tail. Such occurrence was not always with physical and mental training even though they were the most common method used. There were many other factors must be considered for unique and rare circumstances. Bloodline purity was the most noticeable factor.

"Purity," he mumbled the word with a frown while brushing his golden hair back, vanishing the pair of fox ears in the process. "It doesn't come naturally, does it?" That was likely the case as the entire region of Kyoto remained firmly under the control of his wife's family for generations. His frown morphed into a small smile when he thought about what she must have given up so they could be together.

"Hey! I've given up a lot too…" he said with an underlying gloating tone. Biting his lips, he thought about the things he had to let go, especially about the beautiful black-haired princess of the Nekomata, his mother clan. "I wonder what Kurohime is doing lately?"

"And that brat, Kuro-chan, too," he said with a chuckle several minutes later. "Maybe –

"Remember your promise, Kurama-dono. You must not see her again," advised the silhouette on the closed window behind the blond.

Kurama blinked and without any further delay, he flipped up from his spot and slid opened the window in order to see the old man. "So, how long have you been standing here? And how much have you heard?"

"Only in the last minute, Kurama-dono, and I heard nothing except the soothing winds," the Tengu answered with a small humble bow. "Apology for the interruption, Yasaka-hime has requested your presence."

"She wants to see me?" Kurama leered at the evening sky before biting down his lower lip. "But… it's still early out."

"Yes, it's still early for such thing, Kurama-dono," the old man agreed as he noted the time. A sly smile manifested by his lips for only a fraction of a second. "Yasaka-hime wants you to accompany her for the evening meal."

"Oh… why didn't you say so? Where is she –

"Alone, without any servants," the old man added softly.

"Er…? I'm not hungry then," Kurama responded hastily while scratching the back of his head. "I will see her after dinner… probably."

"As you wish," the old man said and gave a deep bow. He then backed away from the window to one side, allowing his master to step into view.

"You're not hungry?" Yasaka asked while leaning over the window. Her face was right into his, showing her fully slit golden eyes. "If you can do it then I can as well, husband."

"No…actually, I'm really hungry right now, Yasaka-chan," Kurama assured with a gulp when matching her unwavering and scrutinizing gaze. His pair of golden jewels remained in its natural state as his lust was restrained.

Yasaka blinked several times before smirking deviously. Before he could run off, her nine golden tails manifested and wrapped around her husband before pulling him through the opened window. "Then let's hurry and eat, husband. I want to try a new technique so you will need to keep your energy up. It's a very interesting from what I've learned."

"Wait! Please let me down, Yasaka-chan. I'm not going to run away," Kurama requested, but his wife seemed to be lost in her own world. He sighed as he was being dragged down to one end of the hallway, where several attendants waited.

"The room is ready, Yasaka-hime," one of them said with a bow.

Kurama growled at them. "Damn it, stop teaching her strange things! Why can't she try it on someone else?"

"Are you suggesting that Yasaka-hime should take on more consorts?" The Tengu whispered while the foxy girls giggled.

"Er… no… I didn't say that," Kurama corrected weakly.

"Then beside you, there's no other sacrifice," the old man joked. "But do not fear, Kurama-dono. We will pray for your safe return."

"Noooooooo! Let me go! I don't want to!" Kurama called out while thrashing in his binding as he was taken to his wife's fun dungeon, which was their massive bedroom. She must have forgotten about dinner. She didn't need it, and even if she was famished, she would be full when the night was over.

**XxXxX**

"Hmmm… I know the little brat is cute and all at this age, but do you mind sharing with me what you're looking at exactly?" Kurama decided to ask while continuing to stare at the small golden-haired child through the heterochromia eyes of its host.

It admitted wholly that the peaceful sleeping expression of the girl was just too darn adorable to simply ignore. Especially when her face was the first thing it saw once the dawn of a new day made itself known by silently creeping into the room from beyond the window's drapes.

"Nothing really… Maybe it is because she looks so much like her… so much like Yasaka-chan," Naruto muttered with all honesty while immersing in the distant memory of the shied golden fox princess he played with. A couple of his fingers gently brushed some of her golden bangs out of her face before caressing her soft cheek slowly, trying to remember the sensation of flesh from another person. Sadly, the coldness and hardness of his fingers and thumb made the little girl shivered and squirmed, forcing him to jerk his hand away.

"Ah, I'm sorry," he uttered without a second thought before letting out a small laugh. He examined his strong and firm hand, seeing beyond the seemingly invincible power that dwelled within. He balled it, allowing chakra to flow slowly through it, returning the warmness before using it touch something so fragile.

Kunou mumbled softly in satisfaction when an external heat source made itself known on her cheeks.

The small approving sound she gave was all that needed to manifest a smile to his face.

"Hmmm… well, so much for keeping your stance on the matter," Kurama said with amusement. "It's a fortunate thing that she took mostly after her mother."

Naruto attempted to roll his eyes at the underlying hint. His son might look like him, but that kind of debate was for another time. He skipped his fingers down the sleeping girl's face to her neck before allowing them to ski across the silky fabric of the red and white miko attire. Those warm fingers ran through her outfit, fixing and realigning wherever they could. Eventually, he placed his palm flatly on her chest, feeling the uniform heartbeat beneath.

"Kunou… Musume, I must apologize," he said with upmost sincerity. With a clearer and calmer mind, he could not find an instant where his wife was unfaithful to him.

As much he wanted to, either out of pride or hubris, the evidence he sought taxingly for in the sea of memories was not there. There was many ups and downs with their relationship, but faithfulness in each other was the only that they truly ever had, and he broke it by suggesting a harem of sort. She, as ruler, could have multiple consorts, yet she'd never even try to form one even after years of failing to produce an heir.

"I believe your mother must be very happy when you were born, and I regretted that I wasn't there to see you grow up," Naruto told the girl. He removed his hand away from her chest and stroked her six golden tails.

He knew that even if Kunou did not resemble his wife in the slightest, he would likely accept her in the end so why prolonging the inevitable. "I might not admit it publicly, Musume, but I am proud that you have this much tails at such a young age. To manifest more than either me and your mother is no easy task. We… I have to train exhaustingly every single day to get my sixth tail."

"Hmmm… I think it's more likely because of her bloodline from what I could understand," Kurama added its opinion when recollecting all that it had learnt about the Youkai. It was interesting knowledge, but there were large amount of unexplainable factors.

But from what Kurama had learn thus far, bloodline and lineage seemed to be played a far greater role in their society and hierarchy than even those stuck up Shinobi clans of the Elemental Nation. It was understandable to the last Bijuu since it had seen much in its thousands years of living. Pureblood was held in extremely high regard as they ensured the continuation of their species. Mix bloods – hybrids – were greatly frowned upon and usually was discarded or be used as a spare. In most cases with powerful and prominent clans like the Kyuubi or Nekomata, their parents were disowned by their elders as an example.

That didn't stop many of youngsters from falling in love and eloped together, however.

Letting out a sigh, Naruto didn't want to debate with the fox on the matter. He removed his hand from his daughter and pulled the blanket over her petite body to keep her warm.

"I will see you later, Musume," Naruto said and smiled at the peaceful face of a sleeping child once more before getting out of bed and headed towards the closed doors. Slowly opening one side of the double doors to gain access into the furnished hallway, he was greeted with a courteous bow from the fox lady.

"Please forgive –

Naruto interrupted her by bridging his lips with an index finger. His other hand closed the door behind him carefully and quietly. One done, he gestured the servant to a spot further several meters away from the door. "You may speak freely now."

"Thank you, Naruto-sama," the fox lady said softly. "Please forgive Kunou-sama. The fault lies in me. In my neglect, I was unable to stop her from entering your room and disturbed your rest."

"Is that so?" Naruto muttered as his mismatched colored eyes sharpened, causing the woman to lower her head deeply. "Yes… I guess it's your fault, so you must be hold accountable for the transgression. Considering you are the princess's caretaker, any form of negligence is punishable by death."

The unemotional last word paralyzed her. She understood the implication of losing sight of the princess for whatever reason. "I have nothing else to say, but as my last request, may I see Kunou-hime before –

"Yes, you may, and many more times from now," Naruto said and chuckled. "Don't be like that. I think Kunou would be very sad if you were to be executed, and a bigger crime would be leaving her side forever," he said with an air of relaxing calmness. A moment filled with silent occurred, causing him to frown. "Well?"

"… Thank you for the pardon, Naruto-sama," the fox lady finally responded.

"I only say I will not execute you… this time. Honesty is a very rare trait, so I suppose I can let this one go, but only if you answer my question truthfully," Naruto said, earning a confirmation in return. "Tell me why did Kunou enter my private chamber in the first place?"

"It's… " The fox lady began hesitantly. She wasn't sure what she should say exactly without offending her new ruler.

She understood that any topic about Yasaka's short coming was off limit around Kurama years ago, and with the way things were heading in the capital, no servants dared to utter a single word. Naruto had made that clearly on many unfortunates yesterday. The infirmaries – in and out of the palace – were filled with screaming patients. Luckily, no one had died thus far, but that could change very quickly.

"Speak normally," Naruto ordered flatly. He let out a sigh as he recalled what he had seen so far with Kunou. If the girl inherited anything from her mother, then it was her overbearing disposition. Along with his hubris, it was a bad combination. He let out another sigh since he didn't want to deal with it. "I will not hold you accountable for the actions of another, even if she is a princess, so speak your mind."

The fox lady nodded and calmed herself. "Ever since Kunou-sama was born, Yasaka-sama has never let her out of her sight for more than a few minutes."

"Huh?" Naruto mumbled and arched a brow. "You're saying Kunou sleeps with her mother every night?"

"Yes. That is correct," the fox lady confirmed with a sigh of relief. She didn't have to explain the reason why since it was a delicate matter.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "You know that I really hate people omitting important stuffs, thinking it is better for me not to know at all. I should be the only one that determines what is better," he asserted while turning away from the woman and laid his eyes upon the old man standing behind him.

The sentence was directed at Karasu, who remained all humbled.

Naruto returned his sharp gaze back to the woman. "Not only that it's impossible to do something like that, that kind of protective instinct is borderline foolish."

"Please forgive me if I said anything wrong," she answered, "but many of us believed Yasaka is suffering a form of monophobia."

"Monophobia… the fear of being alone…?" Naruto mumbled with confusion. "Huh? I don't understand."

Kurama snickered in the mindscape. "Wow, you're really an oblivious idiot."

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Naruto roared angrily, causing the woman to flinch. He blinked rapidly before his mind clicked. "I see… I'm sorry for the outburst. Speaking of psychological problem, I have an annoying voice in my head that one shut up when it suppose to. I will have to kick it out one day."

"Nooooooooooo!" was the echo in his mind, making him to rub his temple in discomfort.

"... Naruto…sama, I…," the fox lady muttered. She had no idea what to say to that. It was an admission of insanity, and no one would follow a leader that was insane.

"It's a joke," Naruto said blankly, causing the woman to sweat drop. He let out a sigh and approached the wide opening along the wall. Placing both his hands on the ledge of the window for support, he stared at the busy bodies in the courtyard. They must have worked through the night. "I suppose that means Kunou has been home schooled ever since she was born."

"… Yes," the fox lady said.

"There is no need to worry, Naruto-dono," Karasu added. "Kunou-hime has given the best education."

Naruto cocked his head to look at the old man before returning his gaze back out the window. "I have no doubt to that. My wife would see to that personally, but even so, Kunou lacked an important thing that every child of her age should have."

"Friends," Karasu said while the fox lady remained silent.

Naruto only gave a nod. "Sorry, Kurama, we're only allowed play with you because of Yasaka-chan," one of the kids had said to him when Yasaka was no longer around. That was an eye opener. Friends – or true friends – were hard to come by. As Kurama, he actually only had one true friend in his childhood, and she became his wife. As Naruto, he could say the same thing, but his relationship with Hinata had never bloomed after their initial infatuation.

_Why am I thinking about her? We've decided to take some time off from each other. It's basically mean it's not going to work out. _Naruto frowned and gave a light headshake. He left the window's side and passed between the two servants before stopping. "Don't tell me that Kunou usually sneak out of the palace?"

Karasu coughed, trying his best to dodge the question while the fox lady bowed deeply.

"Hah! Aside from having no friends like you, I wonder where she got her rebellious nature," Kurama said in the mindscape.

'Shut it, furball. That doesn't even make any sense,' Naruto snorted mentally.

"Eh? I wasn't talking about a certain knuckle head," Kurama corrected with amusement, "if she did, this fine hallway would be a lot more colorful."

"Right…" Naruto mumbled with a sweat dropped before rubbing his temple in annoyance. He had many other important things on his mind, and he certainly didn't want waste time conversing with the fox on pointless matter. He faced the fox lady. "When my daughter wakes up, tell her to join me for breakfast."

"As you wish, Naruto-sama," the fox lady said with a frown.

"And what with that frown?"

"Perhaps it would be better at lunch, Naruto-dono," Karasu suggested.

Naruto understood the hint immediately. "I see… what's for breakf…" He began, but quickly realized he could order whatever he pleased. If the palace chefs couldn't make it to his liking, they would definitely find someone who can. He didn't say anything further and left the corridor as the Tengu followed him closely behind.

"By the way, where is my mother's portrait? It was not in the room," Naruto asked once he entered a new corridor.

"Apology, Naruto-dono, but Kunou-hime tends to sneak in the room to look over your things. Yasaka-hime had requested me to put those important portraits away to prevent any unwanted damage during her playfulness," Karasu lied.

The real problem was that Shirohime, the white princess of the Nekomata clan, was the older sister of Kurohime, the black princess. In the infesting darkness of the room, the portrait could easily be mistaken for Kurohime.

"Hmm… that is fine," Naruto said. "I want it back where it belongs by the end of today." He paused, thinking to himself. "I also want two more important portraits made by this afternoon."

"Yes, I will see to it personally, Naruto-dono," Karasu acknowledged. Before he could ask who the new portraits were for, two bursts of white smoke erupted to his side. He immediately took a defensive stance, but the two newcomers' appearance, even obscured by fogs, shocked him greatly. "An illusion?"

"No, they are not illusion," Naruto corrected. He saw no need to hide the ability. "I can split myself as many times as I pleased."

The two shadow clones smiled and patted the old man's on the shoulder before each did several hand seals in rapid succession. With another burst of smoke, covering them entirely, allowing them to change their appearance.

Naruto pointed to each of them. "These two are Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. They are… some of the most important people in my life. I want portraits of them done. See to it."

Karasu was gapping at the displayed ability. "Yes. Immediately, Naruto-dono," he said as he examined the beautiful red-haired woman and the golden-haired man in their early twenty. The young blond was oddly similar to Naruto, who only gave a nod before leaving to have breakfast.

**XxXxX**

"Okay, who's next? I don't have all day," Naruto said with a yawn while seated on his throne, which was situated at the back of the large chamber. Elaborated seats with specialized and unique design, occupied by various clan leaders or their representatives, aligned on both sides before him, all the way to the opened entrance.

There was a spot of light on the waxed floor as the roof above was still damaged. Some dumbass did that.

Karasu, who was acting as advisor until a more suitable candidate could be found, spoke up after examining the scroll. "The representative from the Underworld, Serafall Leviathan, wished to have an audience."

"She's still trying?" Naruto questioned with a sigh. He had been refusing her all morning, but she keeps coming back for more. "Anyone kept count?"

"Adding from yesterday, it's 8 times. Persistent, isn't she?" The Inugami – Dog God – asked from her seat. She was scratching the arm's rest with her claw.

"That just mean she got nothing better to do with her time," Naruto said as his vassals nodded and chuckled. "I wonder how many more times before she gives up and leave. For now, refuse her to make it nine. I like the number."

Karasu nodded and gave the order to the messenger.

"Pardon me, Naruto-dono," the hunched back Kappa said once the messenger left the room. "Shouldn't we begin the initiation ceremony?"

Naruto eyed the Kappa, who was suggesting severing the connection that Yasaka had to the magical ley lines throughout Kyoto. "No."

"But it would grant you unprecedented power and absolute authority," the Kappa slyly appealed.

Unprecedented power was already at his command, but the idea of having unlimited youki – demonic energy – at his disposal was very tempting. Combining with his seemingly limitless chakra, he could produce even more devastating techniques. Unfortunately, connecting to the ley lines would also prevent him from leaving Kyoto for more than a few hours lest he wanted to destabilize the entire region.

"No," Naruto repeated.

"But, Naruto-dono. Please understand," the Kappa insisted, "while we do not object to the changes in leadership, you are currently only a ruler in name. By successfully going through the initiation ceremony, it would make you an undisputed ruler. No one will ever question your authority."

"Don't sugarcoat it," Naruto snorted. "You mean to say that I'm just a usurper right now?"

Everyone dropped their gaze towards the ground. They would never say something like that, but it was on all their minds. Legitimacy was important in their society. The messenger entered the silence filled chamber and had enough mind to quickly stand quietly to one side.

"No matter what differences I might have with my wife, I will not have a hand in her death, directly or indirectly," Naruto asserted his stance. His booming voice broke the silence. "Nothing has happened to the city yet, so we can safely say for sure that your **_current _**ruler is still alive. I do not know exactly what her abductors wanted, but I have some general ideas. For them to capture her with impunity, they must be quite powerful themselves. What do people with powers truly wanted in the end? They will never be contended with what they have; always looking for more at their own perils. I will not deny it. The prospect of having limitless pool of magical energy under my control is very tempting, but you must ask yourself, what would happen to my wife if I take it right now?"

"Yasaka-hime would be useless to whatever plan they may have," Karasu spoke what was on everyone's mind.

"Her power as fully matured Kyuubi is great. That is the truth. However, the majority of her strength comes directly from the ley lines. That **_was_** why I would never match her power even if I was able to fully awaken all nine tails," Naruto admitted. His comment got the result he wanted from the expression on their faces. "Understand this. I don't need the ley lines to crush all those that stood before me, whether they are devils, angels or even gods."

Silence returned to the room. That was an extremely bold statement as everyone know Gods were immensely powerful. As powerful as the devil race as a whole, they would never be able to match the power of a God individually. It took four Satan to kill one, giving up their lives in the process. Not only that, the Biblical God they'd fought was greatly weakened after sealing up Trihexa.

Naruto didn't bother to elaborate further as they would see for themselves eventually. Gloating about his strength was pointless. The Kurama part within him would have in order to put others down, but the Naruto part wouldn't even bother with something so petty. He admitted that the only person who would able to fight him equally was Sasuke, and their whole rivalry had become quite pointless for some times. Still, they continue fighting each other every now and then simply to see who was stronger.

"Let us continue as I have a very important appointment at lunch, who is next in line?" Naruto asked while thinking about his daughter.

Karasu nodded and took the small scroll off the messenger. He reread it several times to make sure it was written correct. He spoke up when he realized everyone was staring at him. "A representative of the Kumiho clan wishes to forge an alliance with us, Naruto-dono."

"Forge an alliance?" Naruto raised a brow. "Kumiho…?"

"Kumiho is the Kitsune clan of Korea," Karasu explained. "The Youkai of Korea usually does not associate with any other clans outside their home country due to the ongoing conflict called Clan Wars. Unlike us, where we have certain area where we can exert our power and authority, they desired only one strong leader to lead the entire nation."

"Hmph, that sounds like a very good idea if I say so myself. Why don't we do that?" The huge bold head man with bead necklace asked. "What better way to show your power, Naruto-sama? You just need to crush that upstarting Nura Clan of Tokyo and every region would fall under your jurisdiction."

Chatter began among the group with most agreed that it was a good course of action. Karasu sighed and lay back on his seat without giving his opinion.

Naruto watched them with a frown. He inclined to agree with their point of view. The Youkai were too scattered and disorganized when comparing to the other races like devils and angels. Even with the supernatural races like vampires and werewolves, they only had one true leader.

Unification was one of his plans, or more correctly, it was Kurama's plan. He still remembered talking to his wife about it, but she didn't like the suggestion one bit. It was too ambitious, and they would have to invade other peaceful regions, inciting a costly war among their own kind. Through all his hardships, he understood there was no gain without loss. Such was the way of the Warring Period, and centuries later, the country was united. He wanted to be the person that brought such change. Most of all, it would be his legacy, but his lack of power had prevented him to realize his dream.

Naruto didn't lack power anymore. That dream could be realized in his lifetime. If united, the Youkai would be a force to reckon with. They would not have to bow their head to other race. He bit his lower lip when thinking about the destruction he would have to unleash to achieve his goal. He accepted the bloodshed he must spill so that his race would have a prosperous future, but a part of him wasn't ready to do what was necessary; the idealistic part.

"We are not in any position to start a war, and such thing is not always the answer," Naruto said in a normal tone of voice. It was enough to kill the bickering immediately. "And we were talking about a proposed alliance, not starting a war." He let out a sigh. "Please don't change the subject anymore."

It didn't take more than a couple of seconds for the representative of the Kumiho clan to enter the chamber. The young black-haired girl must have been standing outside, overhearing some of the conversation. Everyone's eyes immediately landed upon her. She was wearing an extremely revealing red outfit that exposed much of her legs and shoulders. Her long hair was flowing around her shoulders, showing its silkiness.

She was exceeding beautiful for her age. As soon as she stopped in the center of the room, her eight white tails wrapped around her body protectively. A couple of floating bluish flames were swirling around her, showing that she was a spirit fox.

"I brought greeting from the Kumiho Clan, Naruto-sama," she said with a light bow. "Thank you for granting me such an audience. I have come in request for your assistant with our conflict, which had escalated beyond our power. If you choose to save us from what would be our end, we will forever be in your debt."

"And what debt would that be?" Naruto asked. He wasn't about to go fight someone else's war as there was already plenty of war fighting at home. Still, out of formality, he wanted to know.

The young girl looked up at the blond and took in a deep breath, mustering all her courage. She knew what was at stake, but it was easier to speak to a male nine tails. At least there was one more thing she could bargain with. "If you help us gain total dominance, we would come to your aid whenever you desired." She kneeled on the floor and lowered her head deeply. "Furthermore, we believed that no link is stronger than that of blood, as such, to show you our sincerity, I am your to do as you pleased."

Everyone immediately looked at their ruler, waiting for his response. The young girl was practically offering herself as his consort, or slave if he wished.

Naruto rubbed his temple and tilted his head. "Return to your clan, Ahri-hime," he said dryly, revealing that he knew her name, much to her surprise. Everyone gasped in shock at the relevation, starring at the kneeling princess, who had to lower herself. "I don't like two faces people. You choose this time to talk to me even though you could have talk to my wife a few days ago. Don't think that I could be manipulated that easily." He formed a smirk. "Understand that as beautiful as you are, such thing will fade with time just like everything eventually does. And even now, my wife is still far more beautiful than you, both in body and spirit."

* * *

**Chapter Note:**

Ahri isn't an original character. She is from League of Legends, and she isn't a heroine if you wanted to know. She's kind of a sub romantic character. Her story will be told in Unification arc if I ever reach that part. This isn't multiple crossovers. I just like to use already predefined characters from other sources instead of making my own one. I'm currently working on **_An Uzumaki Vacation_**, so check that out for some lemony goodness ^^V

Next chapter will be dedicated to Kunou's and Naruto's bonding.

**Important: **If the story is on hiatus or taking a very long time to update, read my profile for the reason to why and how to bring it back to life again.


	7. Self-Reflection (5-5)

**Youkai no Bikou (Naruto x DXD)**

**Disclaimer: **This story is work of fiction. All the characters' designs, called names and places mentioned belong to their respective owners.

Hmmm… have you guys (and girls) read rick12's reading story of this story yet? He'd actually revealed some of the future arcs so it's kind of spoiler. Go read his work, give him support, make love to… err, the last part is voluntary. Ahem, moving on, there is a reason why this chapter is called 5-5. Enjoy!

* * *

**=[Self Reflection]=  
5-5**

_The world – everything from the rough graveled walkways upon the uneven ground to the cloudless sky above – was hazy, distorted and wavy in her golden pair of eyes. _

_A timeless dream, conjured up by her childlike mind, stemmed from her hopeful desire, illustrated by the deep seeded wish that had manifested years ago. The beautiful canvas painted by her psych had never changed before. The vision was always the same, time and time again, but now, the appearances of the two people – a young man and a young woman, each gripping one of her hands gently and firmly – were sharper and crispier._

_It was as if they were actually there in person, gripping her hands tenderly, lovingly. And despite knowing the warmness upon her hands was only a figment of her imagination, she smiled at the two people who had erected that sensation._

_"Mother," Kunou called out as she looked up her outstretched left arm and at the young golden blond-haired woman on her side. The woman cocked her head around and returned the smile, only warmer and more lovingly._

_"Kunou," Yasaka responded softly as she always had done so whenever she addressed her daughter, in either dream or reality._

_Kunou giggled joyously and turned her head towards her father, who situated on her right, gripping her right hand firmly._

_Ever since she could understand, she wondered and questioned where her father had gone. Everyone she knew, from the young to old, had met their father in person at least once, but not her. The only time she was able to see her father was upon the self-imposing portraits that were decorated in a few secluded room of the imperial palace, her home. Her mother, the ruler of the palace, rarely spoke of him in much detail, and when her mother choose to do so, she mostly stated that he would return one day. There was a hint of doubt in her mother's voice, however, but as a child, she remained hopeful._

_And her father did return after all these years. He was here now, clearly and vividly._

_"Father," Kunou called out like a child, wishing to be noticed. But sadly, unlike her mother, her father did not did not acknowledge her even the slightest._

_"Father," Kunou repeated and tugged his hand. The same heartless result came, and it came again with each of her subsequent attempts._

_"Otou-sama," Kunou corrected after the sixth attempt by adding the required honorific. Her father finally turned his head around and placed his towering gaze upon her. His mismatched colored eyes of blue and golden – strong, unwavering, and dreadful menacing – narrowed as if they were gauging her. They made her feel small and insignificant. Without uttering a single word, her father turned forwards the front once more while his hand slipped out and away from her small confine._

_"Otou-sama!" Kunou exclaimed loudly. She reached out her right hand in order to grab onto the receding one from her father, but his hand was always out of her each despite the gap in between did not seem so great. "Your hand, Otou-sama! Otou-sama!"_

_"I AM NOT YOUR FATHER! DON'T CALL ME THAT!" her father snapped angrily after cocking his head over his shoulder. His booming voice echoed and rippled across the dreamscape, shaking the entire world in its wake. Cracks began to manifest as he turned away from her and looked ahead once more._

_"But… but… Kunou…" Kunou uttered as tears began to pool around her golden eyes. In that moment and to her shock, the gentle hand that had always wrapped around her left slipped away from her grip. She immediately turned around to see her mother, who had begun to drift away from her._

_"Mother!? Where are you going? Please don't leave Kunou!" Kunou implored as she desperately chased after her mother, who turned away and faded like an apparition, vanishing from her world as a ghostly illusion would. She sniffed at the spot her mother once stood, smiling warming at her, holding her hand lovingly. The cold emptiness had taken her place._

_"Mother, please come back," Kunou sobbed. "Kunou won't be naughty anymore, so please come back, Kaa-sama!" _

_Despite her heartfelt pleading, her mother did not return. Kunou rubbed her swelling eyes and eventually looked around the vicinity, only to find she was completely alone in the world despite it was filled with so many bright and colorful things. "Mother…. Father..."_

**– Self Reflection –**

Kunou woke up on the bed alone. She was alone. Her mother was taken, no longer by her side, and her father, who had returned like she had hoped for so long, did not acknowledge her the slightest.

"Otou-sama," Kunou muttered sadly as she stared blankly around the room. Her golden eyes eventually landed upon the portrait of the blond-haired man. His eyes gazed back her impassively. "Otou-sama… if Kunou isn't, then… then… who is Kunou?"

Once the cold and unchanging portrait hanging at the center of the wall began to distort, she rubbed her eyes to clear the obscuring layer of liquids away. And once that task was relatively done, Kunou sniffled and threw off the heavy blankets, allowing the warm sunlight, radiated into the chamber from beyond the draped window, to shower her petite frame.

The light did not feel warm.

She then rolled across the bedding, but unfortunately, she fell off the bed with a thud once she reached the ledge without slowly down. Groaning in pain, Kunou jerked and slowly picked herself off the hard, cold, impassive wooden floor. She rubbed her eyes once more before staring up and at the large portrait hanging in the middle of the room. The blond-haired person portrayed within it was obviously musing at her clumsiness despite his unchanging stern expression and gaze.

"Outo-sama," Kunou muttered weakly as she adverted her eyes from the mural of the said person, and without taking a short moment to fix her rather messy red and white pentagram patterned miko attire, she moved towards the only entrance and attempted to exit the chamber. It was cold and empty just like her mother's room was.

"Good morning, Kunou-hime," the fox lady greeted when Kunou pushed apart the heavy wooden doors of the room from within, allowing her to access the hallway.

Kunou looked up at the fox lady standing in the opening and became dumbstruck for a good handful of seconds. For a short pause that followed, Kunou had really thought she was in trouble for sneaking into another chamber in the middle of the night, but that thought was dropped almost immediately.

"Good morning… Sasha-nee," Kunou returned the greeting, but with less heart. She dragged herself out of the room through the opening made by the doors and into the rather vacated hallway. She gave the long carpeted hallway one brief glance. It was different. There were at least half a dozen servants or guards standing idling about in this very hallway just yesterday. Now, only her caretaker, Sasha, was.

"Yes, it is. Did you have a good dream, Kunou-hime?" Sasha asked while she crouched down and began her only task – taking care of the young princess. Her dedicated fingers gently and meticulously caressed and realigned the red and white attire around the princess' body, straightening any wrinkles and creases in the exquisitely silky fabric.

Kunou stood there in silence, allowing Sasha to do so.

"Do not be so sullen, Kunou-hime," Sasha said once she completed the simple task. It'd taken her almost a minute to do so. She smiled thinly as her slit eyes captured the expression that the young princess was displaying. She understood vaguely what the girl was feeling. "No matter how bleak things appear to be, they are not always so. Please have hope and be patience. Good things come to those who do."

"But what if Otou-sama…" Kunou uttered, but trailed off. Her eyes fell upon the ground while her fingers began to fidget her attire, resurrecting the wrinkles and creases that were eradicated a minute ago. She had never doubted her mother before, but after meeting her father, she wasn't so sure. He was not like what her mother had described at all.

"Kunou-hime," Sasha said as she planted a couple of fingers under the said girl's chin. She lifted the girl's head up in order to match her eye. She now fully understood what the young princess was so afraid of; what every child was so afraid of. She was once that child, centuries ago, after all. She smiled thinly. "Did you know that Yasaka-hime… your mother did not wish to give birth to you? She held on, refusing to let you be born, until she passed out from the pain."

Kunou saddened. Her small hands began to tremble. "Mother did not want to have Kunou…? Mother… did… not…"

Sasha shook her head firmly. "Please do not misunderstand, Kunou-hime. Yasaka-hime only wished your father, Kurama-sama, to be there by her side, holding her hands, giving her support, at the moment you were given life. She held onto that glimmer of hope, small as it may be, until her body gave out, allowing what must be done be done."

Sasha took in a deep breath while her fingers left the Kunou's chin and brushed the golden bangs off the girl's face. "Sadly, due to the circumstances that only your father would know, he was unable to be there in person, but even so, a part of him was with your mother."

Kunou lifted her head. "A part of father was…?"

"Yes, Kunou-hime, a part of your father was," Sasha assured as her smile broadened. "And that part has always been by Yasaka-hime's side since, helping her through the days that Kurama-sama was unable to, bringing both joy and happiness for those years that had passed, and it will continue to do so for many, many years to come."

Kunou stared for a moment. She blinked once she understood what, or more correctly, who Sasha was referring to. Her small hands were now gripping her attire, pulling on them tightly. Her face flushed with glee. "Okaa-sama…"

Sasha noticed it and planted her hands upon the girl's hands. "Kunou-hime, your mother loves you more than anything in the world because you are his daughter. That is an undisputable fact, and no one in the world could change that."

"But Otou-sama…"

"Your father loves you too, Kunou-hime. Do not doubt that even if his way is a bit hard to understand," Sasha assured and patted the girl's hand lightly. Her yellow tinted eyes matched that of the girl's golden jewels. "I believed the reason why your father refusing to come to term with you is because deep down, he feared that if he did then he would be admitting to himself of his fallibility as he vowed not to be like your grandfather."

"Grandfather…?" Kunou questioned, blinkingly. "Father didn't want to be like grandfather? Why?"

Sasha pursed her lips worryingly. She had accidentally let slip something that she should not have, but the young princess was not an outsider. She smiled faintly after a couple of seconds of contemplation. "Kunou-hime. Did you know that your grandfather was not there for your grandmother when your father was born?"

Kunou stared at Sasha for a moment before lowering her head and looked at the floor. Her mind tried to comprehend what the underlying implication was. From her knowledge, she knew that her grandmother passed away only moments after her father was born, but the circumstances leading to her passing and immediate aftermath was a complete mystery. No one really knew what had happened those years ago even though her grandmother was now part of the Kyoto's imperial family. Her biography should have been recorded in full, from her birth to her death, but the only thing the **_Keepers of Records_** were able to attain correctly was her name. Even that seemed dubious at best as that name sounded more like a title than an actual name.

"No," Kunou admitted. "Didn't grandmother died when father… when father…"

"Yes," Sasha confirmed. "Shirohime passed away after giving birth to Kurama-sama. Because of that, Kurama-sama never knew his mother, your grandmother." Letting out a sigh, Sasha stood up and turned around to stare out the nearby window. She watched the scenery outside for several minutes, losing her thought and herself in the process.

"It is also a great… great misfortune that you were unable to meet either of your grandparents, Kunou-hime. If they could see you now, I'm sure they would love you as much as we all do," Sahsa said a few more minutes later and blinked slowly, seeing the phantom images of two girls – twin – chasing each other while laughing upon the grassy field. They looked like a mirror image of each other, only that their hair and fur color had been inverted, black and white.

"Sasha-nee," Kunou called out.

"Yes, Kunou-hime," Sasha responded calmly as the image of the twin princesses of the Nekomata clan from centuries ago faded away. She smiled and returned her attention back to the young princess, who was also staring out the window, seeing the numerous construction workers covering up several Youkai-shaped holes in the wall.

"I'm hungry," Kunou said as her stomach began to growl.

**– Self Reflection –**

"Ugh… ah… ugh… ur…" groaned a creature with a least a dozen limbs. Its mind was delirious. It couldn't use any of its hands as every bone in its body seemed to be broken. Its fellow companions, garmented in the same white uniform and matching white hat it had were trying to render aid, clumsily.

Out of seven Youkai there, the chubbiest one stared at the newly created path that connected the corridor, passing through several rooms, to the dining hall at the other end. "Was Naruto-sama not satisfied with the feast we prepared?"

"If he was not satisfied with the meal, we would all be looking for a new line of work, and that is only if we are lucky enough," the older one said after a moment of thought. Many people were being fired left and right, and quite a few was being fired literally out of the palace, straight into the infirmary.

"I recalled that Naruto-sama gave his compliment," he added. "Or maybe I imagined that."

"No, oddly enough, he did. He said there are still some more rooms for improvement, but overall it was impressive, one of the best he had ever tasted. He was going to reward us for our effort, but he changed his mind like ten seconds later," one of the Youkai commented while a few others nodded in agreement.

The chubbiest one among them raised a brow. He wondered what the reward was as he was not there preparing the feast personally, but considering what he had seen, what anyone had seen, with their new temporary leader, Naruto, he seemed to be far more strict than Yasaka – draconian even, so the reward might not actually be reward in a sense. With Yasaka, as long as they did their assigned job, she would not say anything. But with Naruto, if any of them did the required task inadequately, they would need to reevaluate their profession. The palace guards apparently took it much harder than the rest. Most of them had winded up in extensive care with severe physical and mental trauma.

The chubbiest one sighed. "If that is the case then why is he like this? And where are the healers? They should be here by now."

"The healers are preoccupied with the influx of patients at the moment, and they would be for some time," the shortest one answered. He was squatting on the floor. "As for why he is like this… you should ask him."

"I believed he said something about the simplistic meal we prepared was for commoner," the older one pointed out before shivering lightly along with most others. He remembered the incredible killing intent that flooded the room, emanating from their new leader. He blacked out soon afterwards along with everyone else in the chamber. "I don't know why Naruto-sama too it as a personal offense, but I suggest that from now on, we should keep our mouth shut lest any of you wanted to spend a few weeks in the hospital, healing."

"Ah, healing in the hospital is not so bad," the shortest one mused. "If the injuries sustained are severe enough, one of those beauties would heal you with their bedroom method. I'm sure many of those bastards are in heaven right now."

Almost everyone stared at him. It would never lead to such lewd method, they knew. For one, bedroom method was reserve for couples, who may or may not be in love. For two, healers must be well versed in Senjutsu for Bouchujutsu to produce any desire effect. For three, none of those healers would want to sleep with that dumbass, and those that would, would likely only wanted to consume his essence.

The shortest of the seven siblings knew what his brothers were thinking. "I can dream, can't I? And stop looking at me like that. Check on him would you?"

The chubbiest raised a brow. He then crouched down at the injured chef with a frown. It would take at least a couple of weeks of intensive care from the severe physical trauma the chef had taken. "Ramen is for commoner, is it not?"

"No… gah…" the injured chef groaned as his delirious mind recalled the last thing his ear heard before he was sent through the wall – several solid concrete walls – with a backhand slap. He thought he was hit by several thousand tons hammer. "You… ah… dare… guh… uh… in… in… ha… sult… gr… the… ugh… mmh… the… f… ood… urr… of… the… go… go… d… ugh… ss…"

"What was that?"

"Gibberish," one of others pointed out. A few nodded while the rest cocked their head to see a young black-haired girl approaching them. She was incredibly beautiful even if she did not reveal her legs and shoulders with that red outfit. It was to the point that each and every one of them seemed to lose their voice.

"Hello, beautiful," the shortest one said, apparently teleported to the girl. "May I have your name?"

"I am Ahri," she said as she leaned down. Her eyes widened slightly as it flickered with aura. "I'm a bit famished. May I indulge myself with some sustenance?"

"Yes, yes, of course, anything for you, beautiful lady," the shortest one said, nodding rapidly. Before he could do show her to the extensive kitchen of the imperial palace, where he would showcase his ability in creating the most lavish imaginable, she clamped her palms around his chubby face, pressing each on his cheek and gave him a very deep kiss.

Everyone watched in awe and envy, but their awe and envy turned to shock and dread a short moment later. They widened their eyes at the sight before their face turned ghastly at the unmoving corpse on the floor that was their brother once the short kiss was broke.

"You bitch, what did you do!?"

"He will be fine… almost fine in a few days or so," Ahri said and inhaled the glowing blue mist in a deep breath through her lips. She then looked at the five Youkai and pursed her lips. Her eyes flickered. "Will you forgive me?"

"Yes, yes, we will," they all said while nodding their head. Some were more reluctant than others, but all of them honestly would forgive her for what she did to their youngest sibling.

Ahri would have smiled proudly, but she was frustrated inside. Her charm had never failed her before as it what made her kind unique, but against him, it seemed to be ineffective, not only infectively, he was throwing insults at her face. She thought he was simply dense to her undeniable beauty, but that wasn't the case when he brought up his wife, the ever revered Yasaka-hime, for a short comparison. "Maybe I don't have enough spiritual energy to overcome his mind?"

"Is someone troubling you, Ahri-hime? May we help?"

"Yes, but unless you could persuade Naruto to have a private audience with me, then no, you cannot help me," Ahri said dejectedly as she examined each of the Youkai before her.

They have been staring into her eyes for too long so they were all in some sort of trance. They also oddly reminded her of that strange fairy tale about a young princess, escaping from an evil Queen. Even the names stitched into their white uniform near the chest were somewhat hilarious. The one on the ground near her feet was called Shorty because he was the shortest among them, and while his spiritual energy wasn't tasty, it did fill her somewhat.

Ahri heaved her chest and exhaled. A smile appeared on her face as eight white tails materialized behind her. "But there are other ways you all can help me."

**– Self Reflection –**

"What has happen to them, Sasha-nee?"

Hearing the question, Ahri turned around and saw the young golden blond-haired girl. Eight of her white tails, thicker and longer, glowing with abundant amount of spiritual energy she'd accumulated, wrapped around her very feminine body in a protective manner. She immediately gave a small courteous bow to the child that would one day lead the Youkai of Kyoto. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Kunou-hime. I am Ahri of the Kumiho clan."

"Uh," Kunou uttered and gave a bow in response. "I'm Kunou of the Kyuubi Clan. It is… also nice to meet you, Ahri-nee."

Standing close by to Kunou, Sasha narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the oddly courteous spirit fox. Spirit fox were dangerous, especially one with so many tails, and from the seven unconscious bodies on the floor scattered around that eight tailed spirit fox, that danger level had become deadly. Although, one of the bodies seemed to be conscious, muttering something along the line of "you dare insult the food of the gods?"

Since there weren't any palace guards around to call upon, Sasha was about to grab hold of Kunou to flash fire away, but found herself lost in those strange alluring, dominating eyes of the spirit fox clan. As experienced as she was, she tried to fight the mental hold over her mind, but slowly, she succumbed to its influence.

Ahri smiled as her eyes landed upon the young blond-haired girl, matching those golden jewels. "Kunou-hime. I have a little problem. Can you help me?"

**– To be continued –**

* * *

The reason this is noted as chapter 5-5 is because the protagonist, Naruto, is not in it. He will be in the next one as he met up with Kunou for some actual father-daughter bonding before we can get to the Yasaka part. It is also spanking Ahri time since she really needed a spanking XD – not sexually. This isn't Icha Icha Omnibus so lemon isn't prevalence. Her strange attraction to Naruto is kind of cute in my opinion. The more he told her to piss off and go home, the more she wants to stay and tempt him. Her romantic story is a subplot though.

Ahri is from League of Legends, but her powers are been modified to fit the setting. She is a spirit fox, and do has the power to charm (**_Charm_**) anyone as well as steal their spiritual energy (**_Essence theft_**) through physical contact. She does have Fox-Fire (spirit flames?) and a few others abilities that are traits of the Kumiho Clan such as Sphere of Deception, Spirit Burst, etc…


End file.
